Community honors Enid Miguez for 30 years of service

Pictured at Venetian Pool retirement celebration are (l-r) Kate Swain, Yolanda Woodbridge and Enid Miguez.

After a 30-year career with the City of Coral Gables Fire Department, Enid Miguez has begun a new chapter in her life.

Before entering that new phase, coworkers, friends and officials gathered at Venetian Pool for dinner, dancing and a program featuring a host of representatives past and present from the City of Coral Gables and the Junior Orange Bowl to speak and thank her for her years of service and civic involvement.

Gabriela Simionato Klein, representing Rotary International, is pictured with young professional Javier Fonseca during Rotary District event at Hotel Sofitel.

Teresa Macor emceed the program during which Miguez received recognition from Coral Gables Mayor Jim Cason. As a chair of the Junior Orange Bowl Queen’s Committee, Miguez received an unexpected gift — her own Queen’s tiara and banner — from Macor and JOB past presidents JR Steinbauer and Dallas Brown. In addition, Fire Chief Walt Reed, of the Coral Gables Firefighter’s Benevolent Association, added to the many kind words expressed by all and presented her with a specially made and engraved fireman’s ax.

Among the many guests on hand to participate in this evening were former Mayor Dorothy Thomson, JOBC past president Jack Thomson, retired city manager Jack Eads, Dan Thornhill (Local 1210), Vice Mayor and JOBC past president Bill Kerdyk, Max Blaya, Yolanda Woodbridge, Christine Albury, Betty Alvarez, Cece Zamora-Stevenson, Maggie Hill, Ron Ayala, Betty Mendoza and Lourdes Rivera.

Guests enjoyed a sumptuous buffet by Chef Hiram Gonzalez and music by Gerry Baptiste. All in all it was a night to remember for a very special woman.

On the service club front, the GFWC Coral Gables Woman’s Club president Mireya Kilmon recently awarded “Member of the Month” honors to new member Debi Moore of Gulliver Schools. Along with that honor came the crowning from the previous month’s winner, Mitzi Jenner. This tongue-in-cheek honor is one of many ways the club has fun and also shows appreciation to those who go above and beyond.

Speaking of which, on Nov. 14 this dynamic group prepared more than 35 gigantic Thanksgiving food baskets for the families of the children that are being treated at the club’s free dental clinic located adjacent to their clubhouse at 1009 E. Ponce de Leon Blvd. The members gathered that day for a traditional Thanksgiving meeting bringing a potluck to eat in addition to bags of donations for the food baskets. The club also collected toiletries throughout the year and at this same meeting packaged them into gift bags for Agape Women. As always, it was a night of fun, hard work and great food.

By the way, the Coral Gables Woman’s Club always is looking for women to become involved in the community and serving others. Aside from the club’s outreach efforts, it owns and operates the dental clinic as well as rents out and maintains the historic clubhouse that is a beautiful location for weddings and parties of all kinds.

For more information on the club, visit www.coralgableswomansclub.org. Rotary International has selected Miami as one of five cities for a pilot program called Young Professionals Campaign with a program goal of exposing young professionals to the works of Rotary and capitalizing on their desire to get involved in community service. With that in mind, District 6990 Rotarians scheduled a special evening for young professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 on Nov. 13 at the Sofitel Hotel.

The evening featured a dynamic speaker, a short Rotary informational video, a professional photographer who took headshots of the first 50 guests. More than 70 people enjoyed this evening of fellowship and networking including Rotary District Governor Todd Dayton, District Membership chair Joe Roth, Diana Roth, Anthonio Pinheiro, Raimundo Molina and Rene Negron. Among the multitude of young professionals attending were Gabriel Llaurado of Buena Vision; Marcia Vandervis, APC, and Javier Fonseca, El Carajo Restaurant.

Until next time, keep making each day count.

If you want to submit information for this column, please send your news via email to gloriagalburns@aol.com


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A graduate of the University of Florida with a major in Spanish, Burns has an extensive background in advertising, marketing and reciprocal trade, travel , non profit consulting and management. Before joining Miami's Community Newspapers as a columnist and marketing specialist, Gloria was the Executive Director of the Jr. Orange Bowl Committee (6 yrs.) and first Executive Director of the Coral Gables Community Foundation (14 yrs.) and the Pinecrest Community Foundation (1 ½ yrs) . Burns' volunteer activities led her to become a columnist for Community Newspapers writing Gloria’s Gab, that focuses on the non-profit activity, and a host of an online show, Gloria's Gab LIVE. Gloria serves the board of the Rotary Club of Coral Gables as Civic and Charity Chair, and is involved in the club's International Committee. She is an active Life Member of the Jr. Orange Bowl Committee and is Secretary of the Merrick Festival. She serves on the board of directors of the Coral Gables Woman' Club as Publicity Chair and also coordinates the club's monthly fundraiser for various charities with Gringo Bingo at Clutch Burger. In addition, Gloria participates in numerous other charitable events and is a member of the Business Forum Group, Profit Inc., the Greater Miami Festival & Events Association and the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce. In other volunteer activity, Gloria helps Miami Christian School with fund-raising and PR; is an Ambassador and volunteers for events for A Safe Haven for Newborns. She is an active member of the Music Ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church where she enjoys singing in the choir every weekend.