Pajaro Valley Education Foundation hosts fundraiser, honors community heroes

Apr. 19—WATSONVILLE — The atmosphere was festive on the patio of Jalisco's on Thursday, as people enjoyed a Mexican meal, bid on auction items and even got to enjoy live musical interludes performed by local youth.

All of this was to support the Pajaro Valley Education Foundation in its Spring Fling fundraiser. Since 2017, the nonprofit has worked to provide a source of funding for technology, engineering, math, arts and science programs for all students in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District as well as provide faculty with professional learning opportunities and scholarship money to students.

In addition to a ticketed dinner served by Jalisco's that consisted of enchiladas, chile verde, rice, beans and salad, the fundraiser offered an array of items donated by the community that people could bid on. These included a Mother's Day gift basket donated by Mathnsium, a four-hour kayak rental by Kayak Connection, school supplies donated by Palace Art & Office Supply, cookies donated by Girl Scouts of California'sCentral Coast, a Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History membership, spirit wear donated by the district's comprehensive and alternative high schools, prints by Santa Cruz artist Katie Simpson and a package for a two-night weekend in Napa, including a stay at the Meritage Resort and Spa, courtesy of Climatec.

The event also featured a ribbon cutting to celebrate the foundation's new Pajaro Valley Chamber of Commerce membership, recognized Granite Construction for its support of the tiny houses project at Aptos and Watsonville high schools, hosted musical performances by youth folkloric dance group Estellas de Esperanza and youth corrido group Los Del 831, presented awards to Landin Manzi of Cesar Chavez Middle and Estrella Olivares-Roman of Watsonville High for their entries in the foundation's art contest with the prompt "My Life in 10 Years" and a keynote speech by outgoing interim Superintendent Murry Schekman. A former principal at Watsonville High School and E.A. Hall Middle School as well as the district's former assistant superintendent of secondary education, Schekman has served as interim superintendent since July, but starting in May, Heather Contreras — the assistant superintendent of school leadership at Modesto City Schools — will be taking over.

Schekman said it has been "a delight" to return to his old stomping grounds.

"I have always believed that 9 out of 10 days should be fulfilling," he said. "I've easily met that goal returning to the district because there's so many wonderful people."

Schekman, who was part of the superintendent search interviews, said he was excited to have Contreras stepping into the role.

"She showed expertise, enthusiasm and really a lot of passion," he said. "The test scores out of Modesto are a testament of that."

The foundation also presented Community Awards to two women who work with youth and make differences in their lives. The first was Gina Castañeda, girls' soccer coach at Aptos High School, founder of the Azteca Soccer Program and an officer with Santa Cruz County Juvenile Probation. Jennifer Schacher, the foundation's vice president, said Castañeda escaped from gangs in her youth and used that experience to show teens there are alternatives to becoming involved with gangs.

"She made sure that everyone had a positive role model and that those teens and kids are taken care of and have a safe place to go," said Schacher.

Castañeda, who grew up in the Pajaro Valley school system and graduated from Aptos High, credited her success with the support she received from adults, especially her teachers and advisers.

"I want you to leave today thinking about the word 'impact,' " she said. "What it means to me is when you care from the heart, you love with passion, you never give up, you always remember and lead because you know what leading every day in your life and how you touch kids will make an impact in their lives."

The next to be honored was Nora Yerena, the founder and director of the Raíces y Cariño family center as well as a doula and member of the Nursing Mothers Council. She actively helped families displaced by last year's Pajaro flood.

"Nora has been an activist for all of us, as women, as families of community members and children," said Schacher.

Thursday was also Yerena's birthday, so Schacher led the crowd in a singing of "Happy Birthday to You."

Yerena said her belief is that healthy parents lead to healthy children.

"In partnership with schools, we're starting earlier," she said. "We're starting in pregnancy, empowering and uplifting mothers but also our LGBT families who go unseen every day, and our non-English and non-Spanish families that go unseen every day. We have to be together in doing that, and that is exactly what we do."

Yerena said she did not respond to the flooding alone, as she had support from her husband and the community at every step. When the shelter at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds filled up, people were able to take shelter at Raíces y Cariño.

"The most vulnerable in our community felt safe coming to our center," she said. "Many actually chose not to sleep at the shelter. They did not feel safe there. They felt safer sleeping in their car and coming to our center for supplies."

Yerena also said her children did not go to school for two weeks because they were helping to gather and organize donations for people in their cars and teachers who were impacted.

"All I have done is activated this community in unique ways by saying, 'Hey, we're all out here! Y'all just needed a space,'" she said. "Our community just needed a gathering space, from pregnancy and all the way into our elders."

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