Glen Thompson

The Man Behind The Name

Glen Thompson Community Service Award

Keith Martin, (then secretary of MBDC) once called Glen Thompson the soul of the club.  Glen was affable, articulate, and energetic.  He was always eager to promote our club and to serve the people of our mountain communities.  All of us who knew Glen were inspired by the example he set.

Mickey Laws (long serving president of MBDC) described  the first time she met Glen.  It was at the Hot Shots Coffee Shop in Blue Jay (now the Spade & Spatula) during Hillary Clinton's 2015 -2016 run for president.  MBDC planned to place Hillary's signs around Lake Arrowhead, and Keith had posted a notice inviting everyone who wanted to participate to meet at Hot Shots.  Mickey said, “I was sitting outside [of Hot Shots] with a couple of other members, when this tall man approached our table, introduced himself as Glen Thompson, and said he was volunteering to help.  He had a calm, easy manner,” and he contributed to our brief conversation “without dominating the space”.  After the signs were distributed to the volunteers, Gen helped Mickey hang the club's large banner on the fencing at the entrance of to the water department office.  That was the beginning of Glen's tenure with the club.

Glen's background was in corporate business – advertising and public relations, so he had planning and organization skills that were very helpful when it came time for our next project or event.  He became the Vice President of MBCD and worked closely with Mickey, even going with her to Central Committee meetings in San Bernardino, and volunteering his time to work with their endorsement committee.  While serving as our Vice President, Glen was also working to improve our community.  During our monthly meetings, one of our members, Sue Walker, reported on how the county was attempting to deal with the homeless situation on the mountain.  Glen soon joined Sue to help form a local foundation, The Mountain Homeless Coalition, to work on the homeless problem in conjunction with the county.  The Mountain Homeless Coalition needed to apply for the 501, C3 status of a Non-Profit.  This is ordinarily a lengthy process, but Glen jumped on it and in short order the Mountain Homeless Coalition received confirmation of its status as a non-profit organization.  Sue was elected President of The Mountain Homeless Coalition and Glen was elected Vice President.  Glen resigned as Vice President of MBCD to devote more time to helping the homeless, but he continued to attend our meetings and contribute to our endeavors.

We chose to honor Glen by creating the Glen Thompson Community Service Award because he and the example he set inspired us to help each other and serve our community.  Although the applicants and the recipients of the award will not be fortunate enough to know Glen, the project they preform as part of award process and the award itself promotes service to the community.  And that is a large part of what Glen was about.

2025-Glen Thompson Scholarship Award
Thank you for ALL your contributions to our Scholarship award.  In an effort to keep supporting a community program we are looking for items to raffle at our meeting.  Please email us if you have something to contribute. 

Award ceremony speech: The Mountain Bears Democratic Club created our Community Service Award to recognize Glen Thompson, one of our former members who exemplified service to the mountain community.  Each year we give a $500 scholarship to a graduating Rim High School senior who exemplifies the best in service to our community.

We are truly gratified by the number and quality of applicants for this award. This year was no exception. However, there was one applicant that stood out above all others, that clearly embraced the values of our Mountain Bears Democratic club.  This amazing Senior has worked hard for years giving to others and supporting the community through Operation Provider.

What struck us as astounding and hit our hearts was the next part of this applicant's vision for a better world.  Founding a new club on the RIM campus La CASA de RIM, whose purpose is fighting to Bridge the gap between students here at RIM and the acceptance of other cultures that are the fabric of our melting pot called America. This woman we know will be a strong progressive leader.  We support her vision and admire her passion.  We The Democratic club are honored to be a small part of her journey. 
 
The 2025 Mountain Bear Democratic Club Community Service award goes to: 
Odaliz Victorio