Tall Tree Awards Honor Civic Champions, Community Builders

Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce to honor Sigrid Pinsky, Lee Pfab, Gamble Garden, Terun and iTalico in April ceremony

Palo Alto Online
By Gennady Sheyner
March 5, 2026

Two community leaders, each with a long history of supporting Palo Alto youth and playing active roles in civic organizations, will receive Tall Tree Awards this year, an annual honor from the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce.

Sigrid Pinsky, who helped inspire Santa Clara County to open its first psychiatric facility for youth, will receive the award in the Outstanding Citizen category during the annual ceremony, which will be held in April. Lee Pfab, a longtime community volunteer who serves as CEO at the nonprofit Palo Alto Community Child Care, is this year’s winner of the Outstanding Professional award.

The Chamber also will honor Gamble Garden as the city’s Outstanding Nonprofit and the restaurants Terun and iTalico, which are both owned by the brothers Maico and Franco Campilongo, as Outstanding Business.

The annual awards, which recognize civic leadership, are sponsored by the Chamber and Palo Alto Weekly. This year’s ceremony will be held on April 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Oshman Family JCC.

For Pinsky, the Tall Tree award isn’t the only prize on the horizon. In the coming months, Santa Clara County is preparing to open a medical facility that the longtime volunteer has been championing for the past 15 years. Known as Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Facility, Behavioral Health Services Center, the San Jose facility will fill a gap in the county’s safety net, its absence of in-patient psychiatric facilities for youth.

Pinsky, a former Parent Teacher Association president and member of the Santa Clara County’s Adolescent Counseling Services Advisory Board, worked with former state legislator and county Supervisor Joe Simitian to spearhead the project, which would obviate the need to send youths who need inpatient services to other parts of the state.

Simitian was among the civic leaders who supported Pinsky’s nomination, citing her volunteer work with organizations such as Adolescent Counseling Services, the League of Women Voters and the Palo Alto Community Fund. He singled out her contributions to making the new psychiatric center a reality and lauded her for her “quiet, self-effacing, impactful work.”

“It was Sigrid who, more than 10 years ago, quietly but effectively, took me aside to tell me there was a pressing need that required our attention,” Simitian wrote. “Now, more than a decade later, that pressing need is about to be met by way of a $500 million adolescent psychiatric facility serving teens throughout the county.”

Lee Pfab is best known locally as the leader of PACCC, the city’s most prominent childcare nonprofit. But her Tall Tree award nomination also highlights her many years of involvement in local nonprofits and civic organizations, including the Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, Youth Community Services and the Chamber of Commerce, according to her nomination papers.

Cynthia Wood, board secretary at PACCC, lauded Pfab for her efforts as CEO to “elevate the organization.”

“She has made phenomenal strides in building a community where children thrive, educators are valued and families are supported,” Wood wrote. “As an outcome-driven leader, she actively mentors and coaches her Board of Directors, ensuring we are equipped to maximize PACCC’s potential.”

Minka van der Zwaag, who served as Palo Alto’s manager of Office of Human Services, also lauded Pfab for her service as a former director of the Family YMCA and as the current CEO of Palo Alto Community Child Care, a nonprofit that provides afterschool care to local students. Pfab’s skills as a professional have “really shown through.”

“She has striven to understand, nurture and improve PACCC’s relationship with the City,” van der Zwaag wrote. “This comes from her great skills as an active listener, changemaker and keen strategic thinker. She is always out in the community, actively developing relationships for her organization and advocating for the families and children that they serve.”

Gamble Garden, a popular downtown estate that offers garden tours and horticultural education, is this year’s winner of the Outstanding Nonprofit award. The nonprofit, which is bolstered by about 350 volunteers, celebrated its 40th year of operations last year.

Sue Krumbein, who nominated Gamble Garden, emphasized its role as both a community gathering place and a contributor of produce to local food banks. She noted that in 2025, its edible garden produced 3,000 pounds of produce, 1,500 pounds of which were donated to local food banks.

The Outstanding Business award, meanwhile, will go to Terun and iTalico, two restaurants on California Avenue that are owned by the brothers Maico and Franco Campilongo. The two have also been active in the merchant community, playing music on public plazas and leading a cycling team.

Todd Burke, who lives on California Avenue and who serves on the chamber board, nominated the two restaurants both for the food they serve and for the atmosphere of vibrancy and vitality that their proprietors have promoted through their musical endeavors and outdoor dining areas.

“Together, Terun and iTalico have sparked a culinary renaissance on California Avenue,” wrote Todd Burke, who lives on California Avenue and serves on the chamber board. “By pulling in curious foodies from across the Bay Area, and the ocean, they’ve helped local businesses flourish and created new job opportunities throughout Palo Alto.

“Sourcing from local farms and producers, they uphold a commitment to sustainability that resonates deeply with our environmentally minded community. And they’ve weathered many tough storms and kept thriving. Whether pandemic or a cracked oven, nothing stopped them.

Tall Tree Awards Honor Civic Champions, Community Builders

Tall Tree Awards Honor Civic Champions, Community Builders

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