Soroptimist honors six women leaders from Downey

Photo by Alex Domignuez

DOWNEY — Soroptimist International of Downey held its 2023 Women of Distinction awards dinner on Thursday, honoring six leaders and volunteers from throughout the community.

Julie Garcia was given the Ruby Award: For Women Helping Women. Sarah Sarafeem was awarded the Violet Richardson Award. Jennifer DeKay, Alejandra Gamez, Arlene Lopez, and Linda Salomon-Saldana were all named “Women of Distinction.”

Of each honoree, Chairperson Giggy Perez-Saab said they were “ordinary women doing extraordinary things in extraordinary ways to benefit our girls.”

Garcia, who was born and raised in Downey, has been an active volunteer. She began volunteerism as a Room Mom Coordinator and Fundraising Coordinator at Calvary Chapel Christian School of Downey, leading her to an 18-year stint as the full-time Activities Director.

Garcia is entering her ninth year with Gangs out of Downey, where she is a former president. She is also a nine-year member of the Assistance League of Downey, where she has served as one of the Assisteen’s Chairmen for four years.

Garcia has been married to husband Dave for 28 years. They have two sons, Jonathan and Joshua, and four grandchildren.

Sarofeem, 17, is a senior at Downey High School. Since she began volunteering at the age of 8, she has accumulated over 1,000 volunteer hours.

Sarofeem has volunteered for several organizations, including Keep Downey Beautiful, Food Distribution with Downey First Christian Church, Kiwanis Club, and the Thirst Project Club, for which she helped raise over $2,000. Sarofeem has also served four years in Assisteens on the board as Historian and Corresponding Secretary within the years 2019-23. She has volunteered for Glamour Gowns, Christmas Distribution, Operation School Bell, Second Tyme Around Thrift Store, Spring Tea, and Fashion Show.

She has also remained active in school, participating in the Downey Dance Team and the Associated Student Body.

Sarofeem will graduate next month, and will open up a new business alongside her brother – a modern European coffee shop called 112 Café – in the late fall. She will attend Cal State Long Beach in the fall, with hopes of becoming a plastic surgeon.

Jennifer DeKay is owner and publisher of the Downey Patriot newspaper. Since she took over the publication in 2006, she has invested in ramping up the paper’s website and social media presence, including the recent introduction of the LiveWire Podcast. At the end of 2022, she also created the Downey Collective, which targets independent entrepreneurs without brick-and-mortar locations, inviting them to take advantage of monthly pop-ups and other special events.

DeKay was raised in the city, graduating from Downey High in 1990. She has been involved with the community from an early age, playing sports with the Downey YMCA and Downey Ponytail, and serving as a Miss Downey Princess in 1990 and 1991.

She recently served on the Downey Rose Float Board as President, First Vice President, Treasurer, and the Miss Downey Pageant Director.

She remains active in the community, now with her 13-year-old daughter Alexis.

Alejandra Gamez and her husband moved to Downey in the summer of 2008. In the fall of the same year, she became a member of Soroptimist of Downey.

In addition to her volunteerism with Soroptimist, Gamez has dedicated time to the Foley House in Whittier, True Lasting Connections (TLC), Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall, Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, City of Hope in Duarte, and an immigration law firm, where she interpreted for Spanish speaking clients.

Gamez currently works for the Honorable Sandra Ikuta, Circuit Judge, at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Lopez was born in Cuba, emigrating to the United States at the age of 9-years-old. She would learn English as she progressed through the public school system, and immediately joined the workforce upon graduating high school. She married at 18, and put herself through college, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in accounting seven years later. That same year, she had her first child Adriana. She dedicated herself to her domestic duties until the sudden and tragic death of her first husband.

Forced back into the workplace, Lopez began her career as an accountant, subsequently getting her CPA license, and eventually becoming the first and only female partner in her accounting firm.

She would remarry to her current husband Raul, and had a son, Alex. She would also help her husband start a business. She has also been a member of various organizations, including over 30 years with Soroptimist.

Salomon-Saldana currently serves on the Downey Unified School District Board of Education as its clerk, having been elected in 2020. Prior to her work on the School Board, she was the founder and formerly Executive Director of the Downey Foundation for Educational Opportunities.

She recently joined the Board of the Downey Symphonic Society. She is a past president of Maude Price Elementary PTA. She and her family support Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, and are active in Downey’s Girl Scouts and Northwest Downey Little League.

Professionally, Salomon-Saldana is an Emmy award winning journalist and writer, with over 20 years of experience having produced investigative, community, and consumer stories for four local broadcast news stations in English and Spanish.

She is mother to three children - ages 10, 15, and 18 – who attend school within Downey Unified. She and her husband have been residents of Downey since 2001, and are business owners.