For the second year in a row, the Alta Bates Summit Celebrity Golf and Tennis Classic raised more than $250,000 to support the Culinary Arts Program at Thunder Road. The Alta Bates Summit affiliate is a model program for California youth and their families struggling with drug, alcohol and tobacco abuse.

This year’s sold-out golf tourney took place September 12 at Diablo Country Club. A capacity crowd at the Berkeley Tennis Club enjoyed the play of 30 celebrities, but only a few attendees may have known that Culinary Arts Program participants prepared the more than 1,000 box lunches served at the September 24 event. “It was perfect training for a demanding career in food service,” explains Cynthia Gregory, Thunder Road’s development director and the Foundation’s annual giving director. “The Culinary Arts Program supports the many young clients who have limited family or social networks and need to establish self-sufficient lifestyles after treatment. With marketable job skills, these clients significantly improve their ability to maintain sober lifestyles and become contributing members in our community.”