There was a nice crowd at the Silicon Valley Capital Club on Wednesday for a luncheon to celebrate the Alum Rock Counseling Center’s 35th anniversary.
The center’s an important resource for parents in East and Central San Jose who think their kids might be heading down a bad path. Sometimes the help is prevention, and sometimes it’s intervention.
“What we have always been about is unmasking the potential of our youth,” said Patricia Chiapellone, who’s been the nonprofit group’s executive director since 2004.
There was a lot of corporate support at the event from the likes of Hewlett-Packard, AT&T and Ernst & Young, and those supporters got to hear moving tales from a few of the 4,000 kids and family members who ARCC helps each year.
And it was good to see support from some of the other people who are out there trying to keep the safety net from missing anyone.
That group included philanthropists Al and Carmen Castellano, retired newsman Rigo Chacon, United Way Silicon Valley CEO Carole Leigh Hutton, Goodwill Silicon Valley CEOMike Fox Jr. (there with his wife, Lori Fox) and Santa Clara County Schools Superintendent Charles Weis.
Written by: Sal Pizarro, Mercury News