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Mendota man wears many hats as he embraces leadership in his community · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Mendoda man wears many hats as he embraces leadership in
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  his community. Written by Matthias Werner, this article is being
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  read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Joel Perez has been a fixture in the Mendota community
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  for his entire life. He is a union representative for
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  his coworkers at Ridley Feeds, and athletics coach at Mendota
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  High School, and in the local Little League community. Perez
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  has devoted himself to his family, co workers, and community
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  in an exemplary fashion. Although most may be familiar with
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  his work as a coach, I've coached for years, and
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  I've coached almost everything, he said. You name one person
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  or another, I've coached their kid in football, softball, basketball,
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  or something. Perez has been at Mendota High School coaching
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  multiple sports for over two decades, though he doesn't like
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  to think it's been that long. Also helped out in
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  Little League. He is currently the head softball coach, a
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  position he has held for thirteen years. I'm just here
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  to try and help the girls get better, he said.
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  I like how hard they play and how they work.
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  Perez's fellow coaches and faculty at MHS aren't as modest
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  in their descriptions of his impact on the school in
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  the community. What truly sets Coach Perez apart is his
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  consistent investment in our student athletes. He has never turned
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  down an opportunity to help kids grow and flourish, both
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  on and off the playing field. Teacher in MHS coach
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  Aaroncester said, I know I can always rely on Coach
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  Perez to offer guidance and mentoring, not only to the
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  kids in our community, but often to myself and other
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  coaches as well. Sester has seen the impact Perez has
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  had on the community as both an athlete and a colleague.
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  He has helped shape a stronger school and a more
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  connected community. His impact is and will be felt for generations,
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  he said. Gary Barrera, the head of the Physical education
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  department at MHS, has known Perez his whole life, dating
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  back to their little league days. He has been involved
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  in the lives of so many student athletes. He has
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  positively impacted their lives from the youth programs all the
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  way until they graduated high school. He said. Joel has
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  been a positive role model for kids as they grow up.
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  They respect him and look at him as a positive
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  in their lives. Perez's devotion isn't limited to athletics. He
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  has an active role in helping his coworkers outside the
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  walls of MHS. After working at Fasco Mills, Perez moved
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  to Ridley Feed's Ingredients, where for the past three years
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  he has been a union steward representing more than one
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  hundred employees. When the opportunity came up, I thought that
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  I'd give it a try and see how it would
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  work out, he said. You can't make everybody happy, but
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  you try to do your best. Perez said that as
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  a union leader, he tries to get people to buy
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  into every everybody's success. I'm more of a what we
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  can do for everyone instead of what we can do
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  for an individual, because it's a union and we're all together,
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  as he said, some people just don't look at it
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  that way. After taking on multiple roles at MHS and
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  at his workplace, Perez tried his hand at another form
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  of community involvement. In twenty twenty five local government. Perez
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  ran for the Mendota City Council, emphasizing giving a voice
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  to the Hispanic community in Mendota and bringing people together.
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  There are all kinds of people who have a voice,
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  and nobody has really put in the time to want
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  to try to bring the Mexican community in more. He said,
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  I just figured maybe people would get out and do
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  more if somebody like me was involved, they might want
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  to get out and be part of building Mendota. Although
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  he did not win, Perez said he wants to give
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  it another run next time around to see if he
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  can make another difference in the community he calls home.