Recently the Youth Advisory Council (YAC), a group of young people, organized through the Branch County Community Foundation held a luncheon and invited the Board members of the Branch County Community Foundation. The purpose of the luncheon was to discuss recent activities the organization been doing and share plans for the upcoming year. YAC seeks to identify and address youth issues in the community and is dedicated to effective fund development, and youth empowerment, and grantmaking.

The luncheon was held at the Elks in Coldwater and 22 people attended. Graham Rowe-Bultinck, YAC’s quarterly chairperson, spoke about his duties of leading meetings, creating meeting agendas and acting as the voting member for the board meeting with the Branch County Community Foundation board for the quarter.

This luncheon is one of YAC’s required standards to have interaction both on a formal and informal basis with our adult board. YAC members would like to thank board member Connie Winbigler for making the dessert and the Elks, Cathy Modert for cooking, and Shelly Monks for volunteering her time for clean-up.

For more information about YAC, contact Amber Valentine at 517.398.5247 or via email at valentineaw@yahoo.com. YAC accepts grant applications that address issues of concern and importance to local youth. For information for applying for a grant, contact Colleen Knight at 517.278.4517 or via email at colleen@brcofoundation.org.

The Branch County Community Foundation is a non-profit organization and a nationally accredited and state-certified community grant-making foundation that serves communities in Branch County and Colon, Michigan by supporting charitable giving, building permanent endowments, and connecting community resources. More information can be found on the web at www.brcofoundation.org or by calling 517-278-4517.

Pictured are members of the Branch County Community Foundation and Youth Advisory Council who met for a luncheon recently including Amber Valentine, Alanah Haskin, Dana Sebald VanDoren, Colleen Knight, Roberta Gagnon, Jay Carlson, Curt Proctor, Graham Rowe-Bultinck, Paul Monks, Austin Gagnon, Mary Jo Kranz, Joe Rasbaugh, Bailey Knaack, Brandon Henry, Kelsey Bean, Michael Tesch, Adrain Wanar, Daniel Erwin.