gmhTODAY 07 gmhToday Mar Apr 2016 | Page 12

South Santa Clara Valley Lead South Santa Clara Valley has a number of great qualities … open spaces, amazing weather, access to mountains and beaches just a short drive away, good schools, an active lifestyle, fine dining and family restaurants, and entertainment. But the area’s most treasured asset is the abundance of great community leaders … some we know well and others come to light through the efforts of our Chamber of Commerces’s and non-profits who recognize them each year. On these pages, we have highlighted just a few. Be sure to thank them for their contribution if you run into them. They truly do make a difference. A special thanks to our gmhTODAY friends at Morgan Hill Life and the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce for providing a portion of the research, photos and copy used in these highlights. Joe Aiello Morgan Hill Leadership Excellence Award When he’s not running the farms, Joe Aiello stays involved as a leader of the South Valley community, providing thousands of dollars every year in scholarships for students who want to study agricultural sciences in college. He also is involved in helping young children learn how food crops are produced through various school campus gardens and a “pumpkin lab” at Uesugi’s annual Pumpkin Patch. He has served on the board of the Santa Clara