11th annual event to be held Thanksgiving morning
SHELTON - John J. Ribas will be the Honorary Starter for the 2012 Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 4K Road Race.
Ribas is a lifelong resident who has made service to the entire Valley community his trademark throughout his life.
A product of the Community Center which evolved into today’s Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley under his leadership, he has instilled the value of giving back to the community to generations of Valley youth who have passed through the Club. Ribas will be retiring from the Club Dec. 12, and the race committee said his 34 years at the helm of the Club makes him the perfect choice to be this year's starter.
SHELTON - John J. Ribas will be the Honorary Starter for the 2012 Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 4K Road Race.
Ribas is a lifelong resident who has made service to the entire Valley community his trademark throughout his life.
A product of the Community Center which evolved into today’s Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley under his leadership, he has instilled the value of giving back to the community to generations of Valley youth who have passed through the Club. Ribas will be retiring from the Club Dec. 12, and the race committee said his 34 years at the helm of the Club makes him the perfect choice to be this year's starter.
Ribas still recalls the dollar spent on his membership in the Club back in
1956 as "the greatest investment I ever made."
The lessons learned at an early age have guided him throughout his life. After graduating from Shelton High School and Boston University, he came back to the area and worked as an engineer in training.
However his volunteer work at the Boys & Girls Club eventually pulled him into his true vocation in life – working with children.
He started as a program director in Shelton and moved onto to increasingly more responsible positions with the Boys & Girls Clubs in Bridgeport before returning to Shelton to become the Executive Director of the Community Center Boys Club in 1978.
Under his leadership, the Club soon admitted girls and came to be known as the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley.
The lessons learned at an early age have guided him throughout his life. After graduating from Shelton High School and Boston University, he came back to the area and worked as an engineer in training.
However his volunteer work at the Boys & Girls Club eventually pulled him into his true vocation in life – working with children.
He started as a program director in Shelton and moved onto to increasingly more responsible positions with the Boys & Girls Clubs in Bridgeport before returning to Shelton to become the Executive Director of the Community Center Boys Club in 1978.
Under his leadership, the Club soon admitted girls and came to be known as the Boys & Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley.
Ribas work as head of the Club has been well documented and the tremendous
growth in programming and size of the local Club has made him
a recognized leader in the Boys & Girls Club movement across the
country.
The Club has surged in the aftermath of a fire that destroyed its building, but resulted in the new club at 1 Positive Place and eventually the new club in Ansonia as well. Ribas was also instrumental in assisting Milford in developing a new Club there as well.
Community volunteer work
His service to the community goes well beyond his work day at the Boys & Girls Club. He has been an active member of the Parent Child Resource Center and served as its President from 1988 to 1990.
He was a board member at Birmingham Group Health Services and served as its finance chairman. He was president of the Community Alert Program
The Club has surged in the aftermath of a fire that destroyed its building, but resulted in the new club at 1 Positive Place and eventually the new club in Ansonia as well. Ribas was also instrumental in assisting Milford in developing a new Club there as well.
Community volunteer work
His service to the community goes well beyond his work day at the Boys & Girls Club. He has been an active member of the Parent Child Resource Center and served as its President from 1988 to 1990.
He was a board member at Birmingham Group Health Services and served as its finance chairman. He was president of the Community Alert Program
As a former member of St. Margaret Mary Parish, he served on the Parish Council and held its presidency for a two year period during the construction of the new parish rectory.
Ribas has been a very active member of the Derby/Shelton Rotary Club since 1978 and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the St. Vincent De Paul Society and served as its President from 1998 to 2006.
Ribas has been a member of the Highland Golf Club and served on its Board of Directors and its President in 1985 and 1986.
Ribas has received numerous community awards recognizing his professional and
community achievements starting with his Boy of the Year Award
in 1962 by the Community Center Boys Club.
He has received the Valley Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award, the Book of Golden Deeds award from the Huntington Exchange Club Parent Child Resource Center’s Outstanding Service Award.
The Boys & Girls Club named him to their first class of inductees to their Hall of Fame in 2007, and Boys & Girls Club of America honored him with their Distinguished Service Award in 2005. He is also a 1994 recipient of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Gold Seal Award.
He also received the community's oldest and most prestigious community service award, the Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award, from Valley United Way in 2008.
He has received the Valley Bar Association’s Liberty Bell Award, the Book of Golden Deeds award from the Huntington Exchange Club Parent Child Resource Center’s Outstanding Service Award.
The Boys & Girls Club named him to their first class of inductees to their Hall of Fame in 2007, and Boys & Girls Club of America honored him with their Distinguished Service Award in 2005. He is also a 1994 recipient of the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Gold Seal Award.
He also received the community's oldest and most prestigious community service award, the Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award, from Valley United Way in 2008.
Ribas is married to the former Alicia Simonetti and lives in Shelton. They have two sons, John and Matthew.
The 11th
Annual Commodore Hull Thanksgiving Day 5K Road
race will be held on Thanksgiving morning through the streets of Derby
and Shelton.
All 700 spots for this year’s race have been filled. For information, visit the race website: http://electronicvalley.org/derby/HullRace/.
All 700 spots for this year’s race have been filled. For information, visit the race website: http://electronicvalley.org/derby/HullRace/.
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