From the Yuma Sun:
‘Finding one’s passion in life is indeed a gift, but then making that passion one’s life commitment takes dedication, planning, organization, determination and time,” according to Bill and Judy Gresser.
They believe that Howard Blitz, founder and chief executive officer of Yuma’s Freedom Library, exemplifies a person who identified his passion and made that passion a reality.
It’s for this reason, and many more, that they nominated Blitz for recognition as the 2024 Citizen of the Year.
“His love for our country, its Constitution, and its commitment to freedom came to life in the form of the Freedom Library, a 501c3 here in Yuma, founded 28 years ago,” the Gressers noted in their nomination.
“Its purpose is to promote an understanding and acceptance of the Freedom Philosophy and the principles of liberty as expounded in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.”
They pointed out that Blitz has lived that commitment through the classes he teaches and makes available to the community at the Freedom Library. He takes those same social studies classes to public and private schools in Yuma County. When there is more demand for classes than he can personally teach, he recruits volunteers to work with the students, they noted.
Every semester he personally teaches 12 series of classes on the U.S. Constitution and economics which culminate in essay contests for participants to earn $1,000 scholarships toward either their college tuition or to attend a freedom and liberty-focused weeklong workshop presented annually by the Freedom Foundation.
More than 400 students have taken these classes, resulting in the awarding of more than 150 scholarships, for a total in excess of $150,000 in the past 28 years, according to the Gressers.
Funding for these scholarships is covered through online fundraising efforts, community events and “outright asking for donations” at presentations given throughout the year, quipped the Gressers.
His vision to have a replica of the Statue of Liberty here came into being in 2022 when Yuma’s own “Lady Liberty” was dedicated after years of planning and fundraising. The statue created by Blitz’s nephew, an artist who creates sculptures made of discarded/repurposed metal objects, stands on 4th Avenue at 26th Street “for passersby to enjoy and be reminded of the precious concepts of liberty and freedom upon which our country was founded,” the Gressers stated.
In addition to his volunteer time devoted to the Freedom Library, “where he has never received compensation for his time and tireless dedication,” Blitz is a member of the Caballeros de Yuma, Toastmasters Club and Sunrise Optimist Club.
During his presidency of Caballeros, the Gressers recalled, the San Diego Padres’ decision to no longer come to Yuma for spring training left the Caballeros without its major revenue stream to donate money back into the community.
The very first Midnight at the Oasis occurred during his tenure as “El Presidente.” He served as “Captain Midnight” on more than one occasion as that event grew into one of the premier spring events in the Yuma community. He has dedicated his time and volunteer efforts over his 40-plus years as a member of that organization.
In addition, the Gressers pointed out, Blitz’s commitment to Toastmasters continues to enhance his public speaking skills and his work with the Optimist Club has seen him identify the need for their annual fundraiser–which he has chaired–to financially offset travel expenses for Yuma children who must leave town for cancer treatment.
This year he organized and chaired their first pickleball tournament to raise awareness and funds for that purpose.
“Howard Blitz has lived, worked in and served various facets of our Yuma community as a volunteer in various organizations and capacities for the past 53 years,” the Gressers said.
One such example was his work for the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program, which ensures abused or neglected children have someone advocating for them in court.
“Howard Blitz is clearly well-deserving to be named the 2024 Yuma Citizen of the Year, in recognition of his time and dedication to the Yuma community,” the Gressers said.
The Yuma Sun agreed and, with help from a panel of past Citizens of the Year, have selected Blitz as the 2024 Citizen of the Year.
Howard Blitz took a moment to describe his reaction to being recognized as Yuma’s Citizen of the Year for 2024, and he shared that he was initially in disbelief once the congratulatory messages began pouring in.
“I was at home on New Year’s Eve watching TV. About 10:20 in the evening, I get a text from (Yuma Sun operations manager) Dave Paschall, and he said, ‘I just want to congratulate you on the Citizen of the Year award and wish you a happy New Year.’ I was thinking to myself, ‘He’s probably got this confused with the Heart of Yuma that I received a couple of months earlier.’”
However, at around 3 a.m., Blitz caught wind of the Yuma Sun story honoring him, which left him “totally stunned.” The announcement was made in the Jan. 1 edition of the Yuma Sun.
“I’m extremely humbled. Especially with the number of people we have in this town that are equally deserving,” he expressed. “That’s what makes Yuma the greatest place to live. That’s what we do here – we don’t do this for the accolades. We do it because we love doing what we’re doing and we love giving back to our community. We enjoy it, and that’s why we do what we do.”
“I’m extremely humbled. Those are the only words that come to my mind right now,” Blitz added. “I can’t say it enough – I’m extremely humbled by it, especially when there’s so many other people who do what I do. Not necessarily in the same particular fields, but it doesn’t matter. That’s the beauty: we’re all doing these in our various fields of interest, which helps all of us grow and become the better person that we need and want to be.”
Blitz is an active member of the community with involvement in the Freedom Library, Sunrise Optimist Club, Toastmasters Club and Caballeros de Yuma.
He further highlighted the importance of giving back to others.
“That’s how we help each other. That’s the beauty of living with others. This is how we do it – we do it voluntarily, and we do it because that’s how we survive. That’s how mankind survives,” he said.
“We get to choose, and that’s the beauty of liberty and being a free person. You don’t have to help anybody or give back to the community. Nothing says you have to, but we do because that’s who we are. We’re humans, and that’s what humans do,” Blitz continued.
With Blitz starting off the year with a major surprise, he went on to describe what he’s looking forward to in 2025.
“I’m hoping that we can expand the Freedom Library. I want to make it more impactful in a very positive way,” he said. “My goal is to keep this thing going and grow it. Get more people involved with it, either through volunteering to teach the classes or by helping out here in the library itself. However we can grow this thing to make it more available and accessible to more people. Because there’s nothing like the idea of liberty. Without liberty, we really don’t live much. So, we want to spread the message of liberty around.”
This article was originally published in The Yuma Sun.
