The family of NIU junior Pat Sanchez is one of the top six Hispanic-American families in Illinois.

The Hispanic American Family of the Year Foundation, which was started by First Lady Barbara Bush, was created to provide family role models and to enhance the image and quality of family life in the United States, Sanchez said.

“It has been quite an experience,” Sanchez said. “We are one of six finalists who are going to be honored at the Hyatt Regency Chicago next month.”

There, the winner of the top Hispanic-American family in Illinois will be chosen and that family will be invited to the White House where the Hispanic-American family of the year will be chosen.

The foundation looks for families, in which the parents have careers and are active in community affairs and spend time together.

“We’re a very close family,” said Sanchez, who is te youngest of seven children.

Sanchez’s parents, who live in woodstock, work as a husband and wife team at the Department of Agriculture as liason officers for migrant labor fairs.

They have owned several businesses together as well as investing time in the community and in their family, Sanchez said. “My parents have worked together all their life,” he said.

The string of businesses owned by the Sanchez parents include a Mexican grocery store, a shoe store and record shop, a Mexican supermarket, a driving school and a wholesale produce business, he said.

Oldest son Bob has taken over the family wholesale produce business. Another son, Dick, owns a floral delivery service. Son Manny is a partner with the Sanchez and Daniels law firm, which was named the No. 1 minority-owned law firm in the country.

Son Salmon is the assistant foreman for the Illinois Department of Transportation for McHenry County. Daughter Jinny has raised three children and is going back for her masters degree in education. Son Frank owned a paint company for several years and now owns a real estate company.

Pat, 23, is a political science major at NIU and is assistant Student Association Mass Transit board adviser.