Keith and René Martin of Yuba City and Frank "Dino" and Bridget Webb of Wheatland are very involved in their community, one of the reasons the two families were each named as Family of the Year for their respective county last month.

But it's not just because of the adults' activities. It's also very much the children.

The Martins, Sutter County Family of the Year, don't have a calendar, they have a flow chart, said Keith Martin.

"Children bring you into the community," he added. They "expand your networks and the contacts that come your way."

Dino Webb, dad in the Yuba County Family of the Year, doesn't remember how active he and Bridget were before their three children were born, but, "Slowly, as our family has grown, so have we."

Keith, 50, and René, 48, were involved in their church in Sacramento before moving to the Yuba-Sutter area with then 2-year-old Catie in 1988.

He has been director of Yuba-Sutter Transit and Regional Waste Management Authority for 21 years. She is a homemaker.

Because of their children — daughters Catie, 22, and Kim, 20, and sons, Cody, 18, Kyle, 17, and Cole, 16 — they have been involved with Faith Christian Schools for 18 years in addition to Calvary Christian Center.

The boys first came into the Martins' lives in 1997 as the result of Keith and René's earlier community involvement, bringing children from The Depot to church with the family.

They became an official part of the Martin family when they were adopted in July 2007.

At Faith Christian, Keith has been chairman of the school's board of directors for 18 years; René has been speech meet coordinator for eight years, varsity volleyball coach and Mexico missions adult leader; Catie was the salutatorian of the 2004 class; Kim was the valedictorian for the 2006 class; Cody graduated with honors in 2008; Kyle is a senior; and Cole is a junior.

Student government and sports, as well as theater, have played a big role in the children's activities.

The family is also active in Calvary Christian Center in Yuba City . Their daughter Catie, recently married, is a licensed Assemblies of God minister now serving with her husband in Blue Springs, Mo.

The elder Martins both come from strong families "where we felt we had support, had confidence," René said. "That's what we want our children to have."

In Wheatland, Dino, 39, is the co-owner with his father, Frank Webb, of Frank Webb Construction.

Bridget, 39, is a teacher with Wheatland Elementary School and has been with the district for 16 years.

She was named Educator Who Makes a Difference in 2007 by the Yuba County Office of Education, is chairwoman of the school's art show "Through the Eyes of a Child," is instrumental in the schools Cash for Class recycling program and is the school's Mini-Reni rally program.

The Webb children attend Wheatland Elementary and can easily spend a full day in school, come home for a short time and head back to help mom decorate a class or complete some other project.

"We are hard workers at our jobs," Bridget said. "We try to pull our kids into what we do."

Bridget also has been co-leader of their daughters' Girl Scout Troop 2631 for three years, and is vice-coordinator of the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes at St. Daniel's in Wheatland.

The family also has cows and a horse, Jazz.

And with the children — daughters Gabrielle, 9, and Ryleigh, 7, and son Hayden, 5 — the parents are very involved with sports programs in the city.

Gabrielle also recently won the Auburn Stampede Dummy Roping Champion buckle.

Dino, a native of Wheatland, has been a T-ball and softball coach in Wheatland Little League since 2004 and involved with youth soccer since 2005.

In 2007, the couple revived the Wheatland youth soccer program after discovering the city was missed by the Yuba-Sutter Youth Soccer League when it was time to sign up Hayden.

Bridget, born on Beale Air Force Base, is the area manager for YSYSL.

The annual Family of the Year Entertainment Evening in Yuba-Sutter was held in conjunction with National Family Week. Families were selected based on their strong family values, achievements of family members, community service and the family members involvement.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Leticia Gutierrez at 749-4722 or at lgutierrez@appealdemocrat.com