Sobrato Family Foundation Matching Grant

Friends for Youth recently received a $28,000 grant from the Sobrato Family Foundation. We must match the initial donation in new or incremental funding from donors. Upon achieving this goal, the Sobrato Family Foundation will donate an additional $29,400. Every dollar we receive brings us closer to this goal.

We are grateful to the Sobrato Family Foundation for this opportunity and appreciate your support in helping us achieve our goal.

You can make a secure online donation or mail a check to Friends for Youth, 1741 Broadway, Redwood City, CA 94063.

Read more about Friends for Youth or our Friendships.

Friends for Youth Saw "Up" In Redwood City!

I went to see the Disney/Pixar film "Up" with my Junior Friend at the Courthouse Square in Downtown Redwood City last Thursday evening. Including us, Friends for Youth had six friendships come to see this sharp, funny film about the adventures of a crotchety old man and a clumsy little boy.

Before the film started there were all sorts of activities and performances to enjoy. My Junior Friend and I both had our faces painted—he got a big blue dolphin on his cheek with waves that splashed across his nose, and I got a butterfly. Then we watched a Step Team from a local church and a rapper from a nearby Big Brothers Big Sisters chapter perform. As we enjoyed these performances we ate the caramel corn, granola bars and chocolate suckers that Program Coordinator Kristen brought.

Then dusk settled, everybody got comfortable, and we watched the film!

Impressions from the Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring

The fourth annual Summer Institute on Youth Mentoring at Portland State University lived up to its reputation of offering high-quality researchers as fellows, well-informed colleagues as participants, and, as always, yummy treats from Voodoo Donuts!

This year's theme, on technology in mentoring relationships and programs, became interactive, as participants documented their knowledge journeys online throughout the week using a special platform designed with AmericaLearns. Fellows presented their work on the intersections of youth mentoring and technology, leaving an overall impression that the kind of impact technology has had has actually been not much. As Kevin O'Neill stated, "'E' in e-mentoring does not stand for easy." When programs use technology in connecting mentors and mentees, most of what we already know about what works still applies - people want to meet face-to-face and relationships are enhanced with direct interaction.

However, there may be some interesting implications about how programs can use some technology to improve their services... look for more about this idea in another blog soon!

Balloons, Burgers and Best Friends

On Sunday Friends for Youth hosted their annual friendship Barbecue picnic at Stafford Park in Redwood City. I was excited to go, both because I had never been to Stafford Park, and because I'd heard there was to be a water balloon toss. I love waterballoons. When I got there, Kristen Kimball, Program Coordinator and barbecue planner, was tying up balloons around two picnic tables, starting up the grill, and just generally creating a festive atmosphere. I hung around and tried to be helpful, mostly by eating some strawberries, until she directed me to fill up some waterballoons for the waterballoon toss. Of Course!, I said. So, as the friendships arrived with their dishes (the event was a potluck), I went to the park bathroom to fill the balloons at the faucet.

I couldn't fit the tiny balloons around the faucet top, and I broke three balloons and got a mouthful of water trying. So I stomped out and announced to everyone that there was no way we could fill up the balloons. It was a very sad moment. But Kristen said yeah right and she took the unfilled balloons from me to go try. Five minutes later she returned with a bag heavy with jiggling waterballoons. What a relief.

There was food: burgers, gardenburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, potato salad, cookies, cookies, more cookies, Caesar salad, cake, and watermelon. Everybody played games (connect four, jenga, cards), everybody raced (sack race, egg race), and most people got wet in the waterballoon toss. So in all it was a great picnic.

Our new Mentoring Services Program Coordinator

Even though I was born in Mexico and migrated to the USA when I was eight years old, I still consider myself a product of the Bay Area. As an immigrant child, I grew up in a place that is not considered to be safe and was repeatedly told that I was not going to make anything of myself. From this personal experience, I can truly say that if it wasn’t for great role models in my life I would not be the person that I am today. For this reason, I am super excited to be joining an organization that dedicates its efforts to providing great role models for children that have all the odds stack against them, just like I did when I was growing up.

Prior to joining Friends for Youth, I was the program coordinator for the Peninsula Clergy Network. As the program coordinator, it was my duty to connect civic/community leaders and clergy, as well as to manage ongoing projects that benefitted the community. I have also served as an AmeriCorps member in the Education Department of Our City Forest, a San Jose environmental organization. This position gave me the chance to visit different schools in Santa Clara County and teach K-12 children about the benefits and importance of an Urban Forest.

Volunteer Appreciation Event

We recently held a volunteer appreciation event--an evening at a local pub to thank and celebrate our volunteers--mentors, board members, golf committee members, and other volunteers who help us help youth reach their full potential.  New mentors chatted with mentors who had been matched for a while, getting advice and encouragement.  (Mentoring is an investment and the influence of a mentor is not usually immediately apparent.)  Mentors talked with and thanked Darren, who volunteers to take the professional photographs of our Friendships.  (It's such a fun experience for the mentors and mentees to be photographed in the GAP studio.)  Many stories were told and mentees were quoted.  They express the importance of mentors in their lives more powerfully than anyone.  Here are a few: 
“Thank you for being in my life and not judging me from the start.  Thank you for being there when I needed someone to listen to me.” 

“I have noticed changes in myself since meeting with Mentor. I’m making better choices for myself now. She is a big help, I give her a lot of credit.”


"I would want to be a mentor to a youth when I’m older because of what he has done for me. He has turned me around. I would want to help a kid one day get on the right road."