Imagine the Santa Clarita Valley without its nonprofit organizations.

From teaching programs at the Boys & Girls Club to providing meals to the Senior Center…from aiding and comforting cancer patients to helping single mothers get back on their feet … from caring for the elderly and disabled to protecting our environment and preserving our history while keeping pace with our ever-growing need for quality healthcare … it’s the nonprofit organizations that make the Santa Clarita Valley the special place it is.

For half a century, the Santa Clarita Valley has honored its nonprofit leaders – community volunteers whose names you might or might not know, but every one of them a behind-the-scenes mover and shaker who contributes to the well-being of our valley.

That honor is the SCV Man and Woman of the Year process.

Every 501(c)(3) community service organization in the Santa Clarita Valley is invited to nominate one man and one woman for SCV Man and Woman of the year.

It’s a way for our valley’s nonprofits to say “thank you” in a big, public way to their top volunteers – people who give their time and talents not for monetary compensation, but for the sheer satisfaction of making our community a little bit better.

It also provides some important publicity for the nominating organizations.

If you’re involved in running a local nonprofit, you’ll have to act fast. Nominations for 2016 SCV Man and Woman of the Year are being accepted over the next two weeks – due now no later than Monday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m.

For full rules and nomination forms, visit [SCVMW.org].

Since 1964 when local historian A.B. Perkins was crowned “Citizen of the Year,” honorees have included Duane Harte (2003), Jo Anne Darcy (1984), Clyde Smyth (1992) and Ruth Newhall (1987).

Nominees will be invited to attend to attend a special Press Party on March 16, to introduce them to the community and the press, and to the annual SCV Man & Woman Recognition Dinner at the Hyatt Regency Valencia on May 6, where the nominees and the organizations will be honored.