It started on a Thanksgiving snowboard trip years ago with a simple question: "What could we do for our own community this holiday season?" That year, Bob Capner, Devin Johnson, John Mullen, and Ken Patrick put the word out to a group of friends that they were going to host a simple dinner at Café Del Mar and take whatever money they raised to give it to a local charity focused on youth initiatives. In those first few years, we quickly found out that many other people in our community were also asking what they could do to support our neighbors.

Now, years later, we’ve raised more than $750,000 for organizations focused on specific, local needs. Since 2011, we’ve partnered with La Colonia de Eden Gardens, a community-run non-profit focused on families in our own backyard. Our annual fundraiser helps support the outstanding work they do to empower families and enrich our community.

Although the current board is made up of Chris Goldsmith, Ed Cleary, Patrick Johnson, and Alexa McGuire, Bob Capner’s original question is still our driving mission.