Teen Center USA, Elk Grove held its first fundraising event last Saturday evening August 7th at the Hilton Garden Inn Elk Grove. This will be our annual premier fundraising event for years to come so I encourage you to mark the first Saturday in August on your calendars and reserve that date for next years event .
The evening was a tremendous success. Both the silent and live auctions were a hit and many went home with some great items. I want to thank council member Pat Hume who was our emcee and auctioneer for the evening for helping make it so successful. Other council members in attendance were Steve Detrick and Jim Cooper . I want to give special thanks to our Mayor, Sophia Scherman, who gave out certificates of appreciation to our student volunteers from assembly member Alyson Huber.
Our student volunteers were surprised that they were given special recognition that evening from our state assembly office and I believe that it meant a lot to them to be acknowledged for their dedication and work at the Teen Center. The evening started off with appetizers and refreshments provided by Bel Air, Grocery Outlet and Pepsi, giving the attendees a chance to mingle and look over the many silent and the live auction items that had been donated for the evenings event. After introducing the Teen Center USA board of directors, we had a testimonial from one of our alumni. I also had the opportunity to speak about the Teen Center and who we serve.
If you want to know more about what we do or get information on any of our programs give me a call and we can sit down for coffee and I will be more than willing to discuss our mission and programs with you.
A most excellent dinner was provided by Burkes family Catering. After dinner, we had entertainment provide by our 2010 Teen Idol winners, Sara Jungkiet, Michael Romero and Nafiri Kusumskaulka.
If you werent at the event, you really missed out on a treat, from watching the reaction of the crowd during the show. I believe that the audience was absolutely awed by the quality and professionalism of the performers.
I cant wait to see what talent we discover in 2011, the 7th season of Teen Idol which will start in March 2011 and run through May. We will keep you posted on the dates and locations for this competition.I cant tell you how absolutely overwhelmed and pleased I am by the outpouring of support that you and this community has shown the Teen Center. The in kind contributions that we received to put on this event , the attendance of a sold out event and participation that you all shared in on Saturday evening along with the number of you that joined the 400 club far exceeded my expectations or hopes.
Many of you know that it is my belief that the Teen Center must be supported by this community not by cooperate sponsors alone, that we all have a responsibility in giving our youth a hope and a future.
The majority of the youth that we serve, as the president of our board Bill Perkins has stated are those that have fallen through the cracks, that most have given up on, that have no hope or future. This community has shown me that they do care and support the Teen Center, want our youth to prosper and be contributors not consumers in our community. I thank you all for your support and believing in and caring for the youth in our community that have fallen through the cracks.
