Page 22

Contra Costa Marketplace - May 2016

The Pinole Summer Adventure Day Camp program keeps youth active and engaged all summer long thanks to tireless support from the foundation. Pinole Youth Foundation When the city budget is tight, one foundation steps in to fill the gap: For more than 15 years the Pinole Youth Foundation has been providing essential funding to keep the Pinole Youth Center a vibrate place for kids. What makes a youth center? Is it a clean, well maintained building with a friendly staff? Sure, if you simply want a place to park kids to be kept safe; a great youth center is all of that and more. It is a place offering youth a fun and engaging environment for them to spend their out-of-school hours, according to Laurelle Martin, President of the Pinole Youth Foundation’s Board of Trustees. The Pinole Youth Foundation was established in 2001, at the same time the Pinole Youth Center was created. “Our mission is to foster healthy youth and promote community responsibility,” said Martin. “We work to ensure the doors stay open and to financially support the youth center to continue providing program supplies and supporting activities.” By Jeannie Howard As part of the city’s recreation department, the center is allotted a small budget that, according to Martin, is basically enough to maintain the building and the staff. “The youth center must be one hundred percent cost recoverable and so all the services are fully supported by user fees, fundraisers and donations from the community,” she said. To keep the activities and services affordable for families, the foundation provides the supplemental funding needed through a variety of fundraising events such as the annual Easter Egg Hunt, the Halloween Carnival, and lending support to the Pinole Winter Fest and Pinole Tree Lighting, just to name a few. Expanding on their regular events, the foundation will be adding two new fundraisers to their calendar this year. “We will be having a 5k fun run for all ages that will also have a shorter route for people who want to take children or pets. We just want to make it a fun day; we’re very excited about it,” described Martin. “The second thing we are doing new is we will be taking over the wine tasting at


Contra Costa Marketplace - May 2016
To see the actual publication please follow the link above