by Kevin Cody
When Liz Tyndorf told her husband, Tim, she wanted to make more time for their twin boys, in the Mira Costa High band, by quitting her job as the Manhattan Beach Education Foundation Community Relations Director, he encouraged her.
“He told me to follow my passion,” she said. And she did, leaving her 9 to 5 job to not only spend more time with her twins, but to becoming a “professional volunteer.”
That’s how she jokingly described herself when accepting the Hermosa Beach Person of the Year Award at the Chamber of Commerce Awards Celebration last Monday, February 10, at Saint Rocke.
It was Tyndorf’s second community award since quitting her MBEF job 10 months ago.
Last July, the 700 member philanthropic group, Sandpipers, named Tyndorf Sandpiper of the Year. The honor was based on her two decades of service with Sandpipers, where she co-chaired the Holiday Home Tour and served on the scholarship and social committees.
The Hermosa Woman of the Year honor comes with a plaque. The Sandpiper of the Year comes with still more responsibilities, among them organizing monthly social committee meetings, and the annual Founder’s Day Banquet at the westdrift Manhattan Beach.
Tyndorf moved to Manhattan Beach in 2002 from Chicago, well prepared for volunteerism. In High school, she was a Special Olympics swim and ski coach. In college she volunteered with the Red Cross.
“Volunteering was my ‘side hustle,’ even during my corporate years,” Tyndorf said. She worked in medical sales and marketing for 30 years, and was also a Chicago Bulls cheerleader.
“I grew up an Army brat. I went to four different schools from kindergarten to second grade,” she said. She described her childhood years as “nomadic.” Her Army officer dad moved the family from Panama, where she was born, to Virginia, for officer training school, to Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and to Ford Hood in Texas, where her father became the mayor.
When Tyndorf moved to Manhattan in her early 30s, she was ready to put down roots. She met her husband, Tim, an American Airlines pilot, on a blind date at Patrick Molloys in Hermosa Beach, where they would soon settle. Their wedding was at the Charthouse. Their photographer was Chris Miller, who was Easy Reader’s photographer at the Chamber’s Best of 2025 awards. Among the presenters at the Best of 2025 Awards was Hammitt Handbags owner Tony Drockton, a groomsman at the Tyndorf’s Charthouse wedding.
While most of Tyndorf’s volunteer work has been for long established non profits, in 2022, she started her own, with Katherine O’Connor, founder of the after school program Smarty Pants.
“Kids were coming out of COVID looking for things to do. To keep them busy, we founded Hermosa Hermanos. We have over 100 students from six South Bay high schools who have volunteered over 6,000 hours to the Friendship Foundation, the Jimmy Miller Foundation, Heal the Bay, the Special Olympics and other charities.” she said. The students commit to 115 hours of volunteer work over their four years in high school.
After a friend lost a home in the Palisades fire and fearing Red Cross and FEMA relief might be overwhelmed, Tyndorf put together a local relief effort.
On Saturday, February 11, just four days after the fires started, Tyndorf helped assemble over 500 volunteers, including Hermosa Hermanos teens, at Guidestone Church in Hermosa to load over 100 trucks with supplies that were taken to 20 fire evacuee shelters.
Tyndorf credited fellow Hermosans, including Councilmember Raymond Jackson for his organizational help, Guidestone Pastor Pastor Brett Armstrong and his wife Ashly for making their parking lot available for a staging area.
“It’s a small town with a big heart,” she said upon receiving the Hermosa Person of the Year Award. ER
