With an overwhelming response during a public meeting to bring back Little League in Piru, the need for additional activities was quickly addressed. Two group were immediately formed, Piru Youth Sports and Piru Youth.

Piru Youth Sports had a successful Little League Season and will soon be starting Soccer in Piru. The Piru Youth
group will focus on other needed activities for Middle & High School students of Piru.

Piru Youth’s first Youth Summit was held on April 3rd of this year and brought in 43 students. We had a few icebreakers for the youth and then it was off to the drawing board. We focused on the needs and wants of the youth, short and long term goals. We had snacks and drinks and thanks to the local businesses we were able to provide prizes for their ideas and suggestions.

Wasting no time to get started, we met the following Tuesday and started to plan for our first dance. The dance was on May 8th, and Cinco de Mayo was the theme. The youth helped in preparation of the dance by making signs, invitations and posters, they arrived early to help decorate and prepare the food. The Dj Fabian Ochoa played a
mixture of Spanish and English, Everyone had a Blast!! Thanks to Danny Ramirez, Laura Ortega, Joey Alcantar, Thomas and Joann Torres.

The rest of the month of May was busy; a name for the group was finally decided. The youth had agreed on M.A.D. youth “Making A Difference” and indeed they did. After the tragic death of Piru’s own Denise Arredondo, the M.A.D. youth got right into fundraising mode. With the help of Laura Ortega of Piru they organized a bake sale and along with Rodriguez Recycling created a separate fund for those who wished to recycle in Denise’s name. Great job goes out to San Cayetano School for donating all your recyclables and thanks to the community all around Ventura County who came out to support.

June was clean up month for M.A.D. youth; Love Piru was on June 11th. And the group worked hard with Ventura County’s A.C.T.I.O.N. group of over 200+ volunteers to clean up our town. Later on that month the community involvement hit another level, when the town was hit had by graffiti. With the guidance of Andy Arias of Piru, the group decided they were going to paint over the graffiti. M.A.D. worked all day in the heat, gave each-other high fives when they completed. Thanks to the Fillmore/Piru Citrus for providing Lunch, U Scream Ice Cream for the Fresher’s Soft Drinks, Thomas Rodriguez, Johnny Uribe for water & snacks, Derrick of Piru for helping paint.

In July M.A.D. youth held a 50/50 Raffl e daily during the annual Piru Softball Tournament and also collected recyclables as fundraisers.

In August M.A.D. held a second dance, 80’s was the theme. This time around the group was more involved, they formed a dance committee and had more of an input of what they wanted. With a combination of 80’s tunes, today’s music a special tribute to Michael Jackson by Dj Manuel Galindo the youth was dancing the night away. Thanks to Tim Cohen of Rancho Temescal for supporting the M.A.D. and recognizing their hard work.

So what’s next on the agenda? The ninth annual Piru Fest set for Saturday September 5th. During Labor Day weekend. M.A.D. will have 3 booths, Fish Bowl, The Balloon Dart game and The Dunkin Booth which is set to include our very own Captain Tim Hagel as one of the dunkees. Anyone willing to volunteer with a booth, as a dunkee or to make adonation is asked to call Lorena Cardenas at 805-558-5708.

Piru Youth’s M.A.D. group would specially like to thank the Piru Neighborhood Council for all the help, support and generosity.