Photograph by Robert Scheer
Richard Brenner was honored for his volunteer work by the Boy Scouts.
By Mark Kregel
After eight years of volunteer work for the Santa Clara County Boy Scout Council, Richard Brenner was honored Feb. 7 with the Silver Beaver Award, the highest award a volunteer can achieve at the council level.
"I was speechless," Brenner said.
He was one of seven recipients of the award, chosen from 35 nominees. The award was created in the 1930s to honor volunteers who promote scouting and its ideals.
Council executive Doug McDonald said Brenner fulfills the criteria for the award. "He embodies the scout oath and law. He lives by it as his personal code."
"He is a very dedicated individual," added council commissioner Charles Erickson. "A Silver Beaver has to be an effective leader at the council level and to provide unique and novel solutions to problems."
Brenner was nominated by co-volunteer Bob DeMattei. "He brings a level of dedication and intensity to wherever he works," DeMattei said. "In all of the jobs he has taken on, he did a thorough and complete job."
The ceremony was important to Brenner because he watched his son, Jim, receive the rank of Eagle Scout at the same time.
"I'm very proud, indeed," Brenner said. "[Jim] was dedicated and committed early on, and he stayed with it."
The senior Brenner started out as a cubmaster when his son was a Cub Scout. He was soon recruited to be district commissioner, a position he held for three years. Since then, he has been elected to the position of vice president.
Brenner owns a Saratoga consulting firm and is assistant bandmaster at Saratoga High School. It is this diversity of roles, he said, that contributed to his winning of the award.
"I've had to balance my family, business and volunteerism," Brenner said.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 26, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.