PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, NOVEMBER 19, 2021
Dominguez chosen as parade Grand Marshal
LIFE
La Luz de Valle pastor Jose Dominguez will be the Grand Marshal for the Keizer Holiday of Lights Parade next month.
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
Jose Dominguez has been a stalwart
in Keizer for many years.
The pastor of La Luz del Valle Church,
off River Rd. and Dearborn, has lived in
Keizer for 28 years and was one of the
founding members of the Latino Action
Committee — whose vision is to manifest
Latino participation and representation
with the goal of informing, encourag-
ing and supporting Latinos at all levels
and educational aff airs, particularly in
increasing graduation.
Dominguez's service to the com-
munity has been on display in many
diff erent ways, which is why the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce named him the
Grand Marshal for the Keizer Holiday
of Lights parade, which takes place on
Saturday, Dec. 11 and starts at 7 p.m.
“I really didn't expect it when they
called me. It's really a great feeling,”
Dominguez said.
In 2018, Dominguez and the Latino
Action Committee started the Latino
Scholarship Fund for graduating seniors
at McNary High School — the committee
awarded $400 scholarships to 18 students
in the spring.
When
Dominguez
graduated
Woodburn High School in 1978, he
received a $75 scholarship. Even though it
wasn’t much, the gesture had a profound
impact on him and was one of his main
motivations for starting the scholarship
fund.
“It wasn't about the amount. It really
was about what was behind it. For me,
it was a motivational factor that said to
me 'You can do it. You have the capabil-
ity and the qualifi cations to go out and
make a diff erence in the community,'”
Dominguez said.
Dominguez's devotion to helping kids
was one of the key reasons behind start-
ing the Latino Acton Committee.
“The beauty of it is when you invest in
young people, you're investing in a future
and you're investing in a generation,”
Dominguez said. “They were designed by
God to go out and be fruitful in the com-
munity. Our goal of the Latino Action
Committee is basically fi nding those stu-
dents that want to go to the next level of
higher education, but letting them know
that we would like for them to come back
into the community and we would like
for them to invest in the community that
they came from.”
But the Latino Action Committee goes
beyond providing assistance to students.
On multiple occasions, the committee
has invited Keizer Police Chief John
Photo by MATT RAWLINGS of Keizertimes
Teague to speak at La Luz de Valle in an
eff ort to bridge the seeming divides that
permeate relations between Latino com-
munities and public safety organizations.
“It was very healthy for our commu-
nity,” Dominguez said. “Our role is to be
bridge builders.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began,
Dominguez's goal was to have his church
be a light during dark times. People at
the church would safely gather to make
food boxes with those in need and con-
nect people who had lost their jobs due
to the pandemic with congregants who
worked at employment agencies.
“We asked ourselves as a church
what we could do to help the community
during tough times,'' Dominguez said.
Additionally, La Luz De Valle has been
a site that provides COVID vaccinations
and testing.
“We always want to play a part to help
others in that area,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez believes running a church
is so much more than gathering on
Sundays, which is why he is passionate
about serving people in a multitude of
diff erent capacities.
“We believe the church isn't a min-
istry in four walls, it's really in the com-
munity. We are salt and we are light,” he
said. “People have to see that your faith is
practical. Faith is not something you hide
in the four walls of a church, it's literally
loving God and loving your neighbor.”
“If you really want to make a diff er-
ence, make a diff erence in your neighbor's
life, make a diff erence in your workplace,
make a diff erence wherever you go.”
Feel -Good
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