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Michael Jimenez of the Elks Lodge, Cuyamaca College student Jasmin Jimenez and Elks member Paul Kassel |
Thirty students in a Cuyamaca
College program that provides a measure of support often missing in their lives
as former foster youth received school supplies and vouchers for books and
transportation from the El Cajon Elks Lodge Thursday.
Cuyamaca College Professor
Emeritus Anthony Zambelli, who continues to work on campus, said the event was
the result of his attending a forum where he heard the plight of foster youth
as they age out of the county system.
“All the financial and other
support they receive ends and they are basically put out on the street and
that’s so wrong,” Zambelli said. He decided to put his longtime membership with
the El Cajon Elks Lodge to use to support former foster youth through
Cuyamaca’s Unlimited Potential, or Up!, program. A $2,000 grant from the Elks
National Foundation paid for the backpacks, school supplies and vouchers, along
with a lunch of pizza to the Up! students who benefitted from the Elks’
largesse.