Helen Rossini of Mill Valley was honored for her work with families of disabled children Saturday in San Francisco.
Rossini, who co-founded the parent organization Support for Families of Children with Disabilities in 1982, got an award as part of the Silver Celebration 25th anniversary awards program at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.
Rossini started the group as a parent but became a family advocate through the organization, which offers health, education and development assistance to families of children with disabilities or special needs.
Bill Bivins of the organization’s advisory board described Rossini as “the Ellis Island of our community.”
“Helen?got hundreds, possibly thousands, of (families) through those emotionally rocky post-diagnosis days,” he said.
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Evan Thomas, a 2001 graduate of Tamalpais High School, is a finalist in the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation’s annual Collegiate Inventors Competition.
Working as a volunteer with Engineers Without Borders, he co-invented an efficient water purification system. He’s installed several in Rwanda.
Thomas, a doctoral student at the University of Colorado, works at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Tina Eastman is the new small business counselor for the San Rafael Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Redwood Empire Small Business Development program.
She will provide free counseling services to business owners in Marin on Wednesdays at chamber offices at 817 Mission Ave., San Rafael.
Greenline Industries, a San Rafael-based biodiesel company, has named John Kinney as chief executive officer.
Karry Bryan has been promoted to senior vice president and chief accounting officer for Tamalpais Bank, according to Michael Moulton, the bank’s chief financial officer.
Bryan joined the company in 2005 as controller.
Send information to Nancy Isles Nation, Marin Independent Journal, P.O. Box 6150, Novato 94948-6150 or e-mail to nnation@marinij.com. The fax number is 883-5458.
