TWENTYNINE PALMS KIWANIS NAME THE “FAMILY OF THE YEAR”

A local family that’s active in the community, and stepped up to help friends in need—has been named 2014 Family of the Year by the Twentynine Palms Kiwanis Club. Kiwanis spokesman Ron Bryant said the Jimenez family—Cruz and Kerry, and children Allie, 25, Nena, 18, and Diana, 16—were selected for their service to the community over the past year.. When a childhood friend of Diana’s died at age 13, Diana—and the Jimenez family—named a Relay for Life team named in her honor. Kerry Jimenez makes homemade goodies and soups to sell as a fundraiser for Relay for Life, and is in charge of the Memorial Garden at the event. The family is also helping a herpetologist friend in Wonder Valley who needs transportation to his doctors’ appointments, and they helped him transfer his snakes into rescue when he couldn’t care for them any longer. The family is heavily involved in Theatre 29 and were named the theater’s Volunteers of the Year for 2013. Diana is also involved in the Twentynine Palms High School student body and Interact Club, and coaches Park and Rec volleyball teams and sponsors a team. Despite health issues, Nena participates in plays and was stage manager and director of the theater’s summer youth program. She was chosen to represent the County at the Youth Leadership forum in Sacramento. Nena also received Soroptimist’s Violet Richardson Award in 2012 and the Interactor of the Year in 2013. Allie and her father Cruz both work for Joshua Tree National Park—Allie for the Division of Interpretation, and Cruz as an IT specialist. Cruz is a former Marine with 21 years of service. Congratulations to the Jimenez family, the Kiwanis 2014 Family of the Year.