Bench dedication honors Mary Young

By
Gloria Burns
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Bench dedication honors Mary Young
Bench dedication honors Mary Young
Mary Young is cutting the ribbon for the bench dedicated in her honor at Rotary Centennial Park. Pictured (l-r) are Mary Snow, Gloria Burns, Rick Tonkinson, Mary Young, Margarita Tonkinson and Scott Richey.

Margarita and Rick Tonkinson, of Pinecrest, surprised Mary Young with a very special gift to show their appreciation for her contributions to our community with a bench at Rotary’s Centennial Park. The bench project was a long time coming and one that Rick suggested after the Park in north Gables was named to recognize the 100th Anniversary of Rotary. While everyone agreed it was a great idea, it took Coral Gables Community Foundation Executive Director Mary Snow to do the leg work to make it happen.

The Tonkinsons, who support so many worthy non profits, have become close friends with Mary through her work with UM and wanted to show her how much she is appreciated as, in Rick’s words, “an unstoppable working force to make the community and the world a better place.”

Mary has held many leadership positions in our community over the years, from being President of Junior League to serving as Chair of the Coral Gables Community Foundation. The Tonkinsons invited Mary to lunch inviting CGCF’s Mary Snow and board member Scott Richey, along with former CGCF Executive Director Gloria Burns to participate in the surprise and ribbon cutting.

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Gloria Burns
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.

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3 COMMENTS

  2. Congratulations Mary! Your leadership and commitment to our community is remarkable! A well-deserved honor. Thank you for all you do Mary!

  3. Congratulations Mary! How thoughtful of Rick and Margarita Tonkinson to honor you, but of course, you deserve being honored for all the wonderful things you do for others. That was really uplifting to read.

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