YouthZone and Alpine Bank are excited to invite you to our second annual Spring Gala, taking place from 6-9 p.m. Friday, May 2 at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.

For almost 50 years, YouthZone has been serving court-involved and at-risk youth and their families in Colorado’s 9^th Judicial District, and we’re proud to give our community a chance to celebrate our successes alongside us at our largest event of the year. Tickets to the Gala are only $45 per person, which gets you access to a variety of exciting attractions, including food and drink, silent and live auctions, live music, and a $50,000 sweepstakes.

The night will kick off with heavy hors d’oeuvres and drinks. Come with an appetite, as the Hotel Colorado will be providing eight appetizer stations, including sliders, tacos, charcuterie, salad, and more. You can wash down these delicacies with soft or hard drinks of your choice. Don’t forget your dancing shoes: you can work off any extra calories to live music from the Confluents, who will be putting a modern twist on the funky classics of legendary artists such as Bob Marley, James Brown, and Stevie Wonder. The first hour of the event is also a great time to bid on our silent auction items (worth more than $11,000) or meet some of YouthZone’s dedicated staff members.

The main event, emceed by Blake Menezes of KLM Auctions, will feature an informational presentation about YouthZone’s clients, services, and operations. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the impacts of our work and the different ways we interact with our community partners. A live auction will follow the presentation, with another $16,000 worth of experiences up for grabs. Then, you’ll hear a musical performance from a YouthZone client, who will give a short speech providing extra insight into the positive impacts our programs have on local youth.

The night will also feature our signature paddle-raise, where you’ll be able to “bid” and “buy” services for the clients we serve, directly offsetting the cost of court advocacy, substance use education, therapy, restorative justice, and more. Following the paddle-raise, we’ll give one lucky person the chance to win a $50,000 vehicle from Bighorn Toyota. The sweepstakes is free to enter, but donations are strongly encouraged. You don’t have to be present to win, either, but you’ll need to answer my phone call if you want to win. The evening will end with another groovy set from the Confluents. Last year, the end-of-the-evening dancing was extremely lively, as we raised more than $80,000. This year, we’ve already raised nearly $70,000 and plan to break $100,000 as the night draws to a close.

None of this would be possible without the support of our amazing corporate sponsors, including: Title Sponsor Alpine Bank; Supporting Sponsor First Bank; Gold Sponsors Bighorn Toyota, Colorado Housing and Finance Authority, and SGM; and Silver Sponsors Arrigoni Woods, Columbine Ford, Glenwood Insurance, and McDonald’s. We’re also grateful for the amazing auction items we’ve received from local businesses up and down our valleys. If you can’t attend the event, you can still bid on of these items right now — from anywhere in the world — by visiting http://www.YouthZone.com/gala.

We’re proud to serve around 500 clients each year and impact an additional 1,200 family members in the process. Our services are effective in reducing crime in our neighborhoods and encouraging positive growth in the lives of young people. But we can’t do it without you. Fostering Hopeful Youth, Strong Families, and Safe Communities is a team effort.  We look forward to having you at the second annual YouthZone Spring Gala from 6-9 p.m. Friday, May 2 at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs. You can purchase your tickets today by visiting http://www.YouthZone.com/gala. Cheers!

YouthZone Deputy Development Director Ali Naaseh-Shahry is a Colorado native who holds degrees in international public policy from the University of Colorado (BA) and University College London (MSc). He moved to western Colorado in 2015 to teach six-and-under ski school at the Aspen Skiing Company. Ali has taught a wide variety of academic and experiential subjects to people of all ages. Most recently, he worked as a special education teacher with the Roaring Fork School District, where he used data-driven decision making to improve his delivery of specialized instruction. Ali enjoys lift-access powder skiing, raft-access fly fishing, and spending time with his cats.