The 2024 Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame inductees are Reed Reichert and Gary Saks.
The following appeared in the RB News/Journal:
Reed Reichert, Gary Saks selected for the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame
By Elizabeth Marie Himchak
April 5, 2024 3:09 PM PT
Longtime community volunteers Reed Reichert and Gary Saks have been selected for membership in the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame. As the Class of 2024, Reichert and Saks will be inducted during an Aug. 3 celebration at Silvergate Rancho Bernardo. “We are very excited about our new inductees becoming members,” said RB Hall of Fame President Debbie Kurth. “This year is extra special since we are celebrating our 50th anniversary. It will be a wonderful night for all who attend.”
Reichert was selected for his leadership in the Kiwanis Club of Los Rancheros, which has led to numerous projects that benefited those in and outside of Rancho Bernardo, Kurth said. “I was absolutely flabbergasted when Jeff Shea approached me six weeks ago saying I want to nominate you for the Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame,” Reichert said. “Since I moved here what always impressed me about Rancho Bernardo … was the participation of its residents in making this a better community and how much they volunteer,” he said. “To be recognized by the community … is humbling, I’m grateful and surprised. … It was very unexpected and is a great honor.”
The retired banker said he moved from Portland, Oregon, to RB in 2010 to help care for his mother, Lois Reichert, an RB resident who died in late March, and because he has a lot of family in San Diego.
Reichert, 78, said his desire to help others was due to a lesson he learned as a child from his father, L.S. Reichert, while growing up in Hoople, North Dakota. He recalled that as a boy of 7 or 8 he asked his father for a new baseball glove. His father, knowing he did not need another one, said he should be grateful for what he had. The elder Reichert also repeated a poem his father told him at around the same age. “He said, ‘I cried because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet,’” Reichert said. “I had no response for that.” Reichert said he did not fully understand until a week later. He saw a boy his age wearing galoshes and made a comment about the boy wearing them in June. The boy said they were the only shoes he had.
“A couple days later … I took all the shoes I had in my closet and put them on his front step,” Reichert said. His mother was upset with his deed until his father explained what had inspired it. As an adult, Reichert continued doing for others. In 2011, through the local Pepperdine Alumni Club (his son, Mitchell, is an alumnus) he started San Diego USO Waves of Appreciation. The program provided bags filled with snacks to military personnel flying during the holidays through San Diego International Airport. The project was inspired by a young Marine who told Reichert he was worried that no food would be served during their flight because he had not eaten for many hours. Realizing many young military members do not have enough money to buy food while traveling, Reichert decided to distribute the free snack bags to tide them over. The program provided over 36,000 food bags and raised over $200,000 during its duration from 2011 to 2019, he said. It was through Waves of Appreciation that Reichert became acquainted with the Kiwanis Club. The Rancho Bernardo Lady Lions gave a donation and suggested he also ask the Kiwanians. They, along with the Knights of Columbus at San Rafael Catholic Church, became major supporters by not only providing donations but volunteers. “It was an amazing community effort by Rancho Bernardans … who were huge supporters,” Reichert said. “If not for Rancho Bernardo, I doubt it would have gotten off the ground.” When the pandemic put an end to Waves of Appreciation, Reichert decided to become a Kiwanian. “I always respected them for (their help), and when Waves ended I knew if I wanted to continue doing things (Kiwanis) would be a great organization to be a part of,” he said. Since becoming a Kiwanian in 2020, Reichert has been president and vice president of the club. He is credited with increasing its membership from 17 to 41, adding new service projects and increasing its fundraising. This led to starting Breakfast of Champions, which awards $18,000 among 10 Poway Unified student-athletes annually, the “Stand Up So They Can Stand Down” golf tournament that raised over $20,000 for the last four years to help homeless veterans, and starting a trade school career fair for high school students. He has also been an instrumental volunteer in numerous club service projects.
Saks, 75, said he joined the Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo in 1975, shortly after opening his optometry practice. “I did not know anybody … and knew I needed to meet people,” Saks said. “Back then RB had about 9,000 people.” He considered Rotary, Kiwanis and Lions and found Rotary’s noon meetings and many volunteer opportunities to be the best fit. “I have found it to be very rewarding because I have the opportunity to reach out to the community and give back,” Saks said. He credited his wife with helping him throughout their 53 years of marriage.
“I would not be recognized with this award if not for her being with me every step of the way,” Saks said. In his nomination, Saks is credited with revitalizing the Rotary Club during his presidency from 2013-14 and for leadership as president of the RB Rotary Club Foundation that led to over $90,000 in scholarships and grants being distributed from 2013-2015.
For the last eight years he has overseen the club’s scholarship committee and in 2016 created annual scholarships for students with disabilities. He said this was due to their son, Adam, who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. Saks said students with special needs are not the usual recipients of scholarships, but he felt it was important to honor them for overcoming their challenges.
“It is very gratifying to give them $1,000 or $1,500 scholarships, because as a family who has a child with special needs, I know families put in a lot of time, work and money to care for them,” Saks said, adding, “It is nice to recognize the students and their families in that way.”
His son also inspired other volunteerism Saks and his wife have done. Since 2017 they have been volunteer golf coaches with the Special Olympics, helping Rancho Bernardo children and adults with special needs learn how to play the sport at The Heights Golf Club.
“It takes a very special person to coach a Special Olympic athlete,” said Neil Berkin, founder and organizer of Special Olympics Golf North County. “Dr. Gary Saks has been that special person for many years now. You need patience, compassion, kindness, love and dedication to be an effective coach. (He) has all of these characteristics in abundance.” According to Berkin, Saks develops a custom training program for each athlete to meet their specific needs.
Other volunteer efforts included coaching youth sports during the 1970s and 1980s, serving on a business council for the Poway Center for the Performing Arts (2010-2020), leading fundraising efforts for the San Diego Polycystic Kidney Disease Chapter for 15 years and volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House.
For 11 years, until the pandemic, Saks and his wife were volunteer drivers for Rides & Smiles through Jewish Family Services, providing transportation to low-income seniors in Rancho Bernardo to medical appointments, shopping and dialysis treatments.
Throughout his years in practice, Saks provided free eye exams to those in need through a program run by the San Diego Optometric Society. For decades he also volunteered at the Lions’ Optometric Vision Clinic in Balboa Park to help underprivileged community members.
Other community involvement includes being a member of the Mensch Tones, a men’s singing group through Temple Adat Shalom that performs throughout the community including at retirement facilities in RB; a host and committee member for the International Youth Orchestra Music Camp and a San Diego Food Bank volunteer.
By Elizabeth Marie Himchak, The San Diego Union-Tribune - Pomerado News
April 8th, 2024
The Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame celebrated its 50th anniversary by welcoming two members among its elite ranks on Aug. 3.
Inducted as the Class of 2024 were Reed Reichert and Gary Saks, who bring the organization’s membership up to 128 since its formation in 1974.
Of its 53 living members, 23 attended the celebration and induction ceremony held at Silvergate Rancho Bernardo. They were joined by dozens of community members who wanted to honor the inductees.
The RB Hall of Fame’s purpose is to recognize community members who have demonstrated outstanding volunteer leadership that has contributed to the development and enhancement of Rancho Bernardo’s quality of life.The Rancho Bernardo Hall of Fame celebrated its 50th anniversary by welcoming two members among its elite ranks on Aug. 3.
Inducted as the Class of 2024 were Reed Reichert and Gary Saks, who bring the organization’s membership up to 128 since its formation in 1974.
Of its 53 living members, 23 attended the celebration and induction ceremony held at Silvergate Rancho Bernardo. They were joined by dozens of community members who wanted to honor the inductees.
The RB Hall of Fame’s purpose is to recognize community members who have demonstrated outstanding volunteer leadership that has contributed to the development and enhancement of Rancho Bernardo’s quality of life.
Jeff Shea, a 2007 inductee who nominated Reichert, said he did so because Reichert demonstrated the same characteristics as those who mentored him in RB.
“These were people who were caring, gentle, honest … driven, passionate, community-minded and always so giving,” Shea said, adding they always volunteered their assistance in order to improve RB. “And that’s Reed.
While Reichert only joined the Kiwanis Club of Los Rancheros four years ago, Shea said his contributions to the organization and wider community have been significant and go back farther.
Shea met Reichert in 2012, soon after Reichert created the San Diego USO Waves of Appreciation project to provide free snacks to military personnel flying during the holidays. The recipients were typically young servicemembers with little or no money, so they had to skimp on food or not eat because they could not afford to buy food while traveling, he said.
The Kiwanians and other RB organizations were among the philanthropic project’s sponsors. From 2011 to 2019, Reichert raised over $200,000, recruited hundreds of volunteers to assist and they filled and distributed over 36,000 snack bags through the USO at the airport.
Since joining Kiwanis, Reichert was instrumental in its “Stand Up So They Can Stand Down” golf tournament that raised $100,000 over four years to help veterans, Shea said.
As club president and vice president he helped membership more than double to 40 members, Shea added.
“I’m amazed at what you can accomplish,” he said.
In his acceptance speech, Reichert, a Rancho Bernardo resident since 2010, said he grew up in Hoople, North Dakota, a town of around 300 residents. His parents moved to RB in 1985 and “they loved it here.”
The retired banker credited his late father, L.S. Reichert, with instilling lessons on the importance of being grateful for what one has and to share with others.
“I am here tonight because of what he taught me,” Reichert said, recalling some childhood memories.
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Charley Crew, a 2023 inductee who nominated fellow Rotary Club of Rancho Bernardo member Gary Saks, said he wanted to honor him for his many contributions to others since opening his optometry practice in Rancho Bernardo 50 years ago. Saks and his wife, Didi, moved to RB a year later.
His volunteer service has included free eye exams to indigent people and reducing rates for his patients when they were struggling financially, Crew said. In addition, for many years Saks volunteered with Rides & Smiles to provide transportation to low-income seniors so they could go to medical appointments and grocery shopping.
Saks is also a volunteer golf coach for Special Olympics, volunteers with the nonprofit organization Vista Hill that provides behavioral health and substance abuse programs, and was a youth sports coach in RB.
He has also been a leader in many Rotary endeavors since joining 49 years ago, including at the Ronald McDonald House at Rady Children’s Hospital. The former club president reinvigorated the organization, led its scholarship committee and expanded its program so special needs students could also receive scholarships, according to Crew.
“Gary is the epitome of a dedicated volunteer,” Crew said. “He absolutely is dependable (and) not afraid of leadership. He always greets people with a smile. Congratulations Gary. You are finally getting the recognition you deserve.”
During his acceptance speech, Saks said he grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, after college — where he and his wife met — they moved to Chicago for him to attend optometry school. They chose San Diego in 1973 as the place to raise their family and for him to open his practice, despite never having lived there and knowing no one other than their best friends who moved with them.
“It was a pretty bold move, but one we have never regretted,” Saks said
. “When we finally saw Rancho Bernardo, we were awestruck,” he said of discovering the neighborhood in 1974. “It had everything we had hoped for.”
While expressing gratitude for the award, Saks said in comparison to other members present he did not feel worthy of the honor. He recognized his wife for all her support over the decades that made his volunteer efforts possible and said he was accepting the award on behalf of both of them.
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Here is a group of photos taken at the Gala by Ms Himchak"
Inductee Gary Saks with family members. From left, Alyssa, Justin and Amanda Pfeiffer; Gary and DiDi Saks; and Lila Pfeiffer.
Inductee Reed Reichert with family members Lineal Pelton and Rand Reichert.
David Petree, Vickie Anastasopoulos and Nick Anastasopoulos (1998 inductee)
Gary Carlson (2009 inductee), Don Schmidt (2019 inductee) and Pat Schmidt.
Alex Lawn and Bianca Parra.
Tom Lettington (2012 inductee) and Kay Lettington.
Nancy Canfield (2015 inductee), Michael Stelman (1984 inductee), Connie Gaasch, Corky Carlson and George Cooke (2003 inductee).
Mary Ann Petree and Patty Fuqua
RB Hall of Fame President Debbie Kurth (2019 inductee), 2024 inductee Reed Reichert, nominator Jeff Shea (2007 inductee) and Eric Young II (representing City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert).
RB Hall of Fame President Debbie Kurth (2019 inductee), 2024 inductee Gary Saks, nominator Charley Crew (2023 inductee) and Eric Young II (representing City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert).
Mark Rataczak, Kate Shrader, Jeff Shea (2007 inductee), Mary Shea, Dan Cota and Anna Cota.