Frontier Homes' founder and CEO James L. Previti has something in common with the likes of both President George W. Bush and Gen. Colin Powell. He recently joined their ranks when the California's Inland Empire Council of the Boy Scouts of America honored Previti with the Distinguished Citizen of the Year award for 2006. The award recognizes Previti for his commitment to improving the High Desert community through leadership and philanthropy.

Previti received the award at a fundraising dinner on Oct. 1, which brought together more than 200 community leaders to raise money to send Boy Scouts to camp. The dinner was the culminating event in a series of Frontier-organized fundraisers, which included a silent auction and a Frontier trade partner–sponsored Jenga tournament played with life-size playing blocks.

However, the highlight of the evening followed Previti acceptance of his award; in turn, he presented the local Boy Scout Council's president with a check for an additional $10,000. Frontier's public relations and government affairs manager Miguel Gonzalez says that the extra money “shattered the previous [fundraising] record of $50,000,” bringing the grand total to $73,000.

Gonzalez says Previti's decision to donate the additional funds intended to “maximize the profits of the fundraising efforts,” by ensuring that the majority of the money raised would go directly to sending the boys to camp rather than carrying out the fundraising events.