Avila family honored by Latino organization

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Members of the Avila family were honored this month by

the Hispanic Bar Assn. of Orange County for their community service.

The association presented the Avila family with the Cesar Chavez

Community Service Award on March 3.

Maria Elena Avila, owner of Avila’s El Ranchito restaurants in Costa

Mesa and Newport Beach, said the award -- presented to people who have

shown a sense of responsibility to their communities -- is the first time

the family members have been recognized together as a group.

“There is only one word to describe a family who began working

together 35 years ago and still continues to work together today --

unity,” members of the association said in the awards ceremony program.

“While the family’s financial success in business is a blessing from God

and a privilege, each member of the family recognizes that along with

this privilege comes a sense of responsibility... As demographics in

Orange County have shifted through the years, the Avila family has been

fundamental in building bridges of understanding between civic and

service organizations and the Hispanic community.”

The family serves on many boards and advisory committees including

Coast Community College District; Vanguard University’s Center for Urban

Studies and Ethnic Leadership; the University of California, Berkeley;

the University of California, Irvine’s School of Social Ecology;

University of Southern California’s Mexican-American Alumni Association

and Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center.

The family also played a key role in establishing the Hispanic

Education Endowment Fund of Orange County.

Maria Elena Avila said she was honored by the award.

“When we were among our guests, I felt just a wonderful sense of being

together as a family,” she said. “Standing and receiving an award made me

very proud to be a Latina in Orange County. People talked about how we

were a role model and that they saw our family as representing their

families. That made us feel very good, because we really are a part of

this community.”