Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) will be hosting The BIG Thank You, a reception honoring SAY’s donors and volunteers. Taking place on November 9 at the Fountaingrove Inn, SAY will be honoring Board Member of the Year Bob Casanova, a Marriage and Family Therapist with a practice in Santa Rosa, Rookie Board Members of the Year Jeff Barnell, local marketing professional and Nancy Fastenau, owner of Fastenau and Associates, a consulting firm dedicated to strengthening nonprofit organizations.

 SAY will also be honoring Volunteers of the Year Willie Tamayo, Executive VP of Sales and Marketing at La Tortilla Factory, and Jynessa Lazzaroni, 19, a student at the SRJC and Events Coordinator for VOICES a youth-run support organization for foster care youth in Santa Rosa, CA.

 In the past year, SAY has provided services and support to more than 6,000 youth and their parents via 17 programs including individual, family and crisis counseling services for teens and their family members. SAY operates the Rev. James E Coffee House Teen Shelter, Sonoma County’s only 24/7 emergency shelter for runaway and homeless teens. Counselors at Coffee House run Anger Management groups and offer the Functional Family Therapy program, a nationally acclaimed program helping families solve problems together.

 SAY also operates the Tamayo House Transitional Living Facility for youth who have aged out of the foster system and need help going to school, finding jobs and transitioning into independent adults. Our Youth Employment Center gives gang-involved youth an opportunity to succeed in the work force and community.

 According to Matt Martin, Director of Community Resource Development at SAY, “Support from our community is the key to our ability to continue running all of our programs, that’s why we wanted to take the time to recognize our star donors and volunteers.”

 For information: www.socialadvocatesforyouth.org or

Contact: mmartin@socialadvocatesforyouth.org

Phone: 707-544-3299 x 226