Craig Pakish founded Monterey County PAL in 1994 and since that date he has served as President of the Board of Directors and assumed responsibility as the primary fundraiser for Monterey County PAL. During any of the 15 years Craig has been a volunteer for PAL he should have been honored with a nomination as Volunteer of the Year. Unfortunately it is only now that he is being nominated. As a testimony to his dedication Craig has the distinguished honor of being able to see the original youth members of Monterey County PAL graduate from High School, Graduate from College and now to return back to their community and work with our PAL. Through Craig’s efforts, last year one of our original PAL Kids joined our Board of Directors to give back to the PAL that helped him make the right choices in life.

Craig is a fixture in our local community among residents and businessman, and he is the best ambassador of Monterey County PAL and the youth we serve. In his efforts to help our PAL Craig is active with the local Chamber of Commerce, is our Liaison with the Sheriff, and participates in meetings and activities of local service organizations. This year, like every other, Craig will organize and host a 10k and 5k race for PAL, he will set up and run snack bars at a host of activities and events during the year, including the Moss Landing Antique Fair, our annual Cioppino Feed (every year he sales 100 tickets at $35 a pop), the Christmas Posada in Castroville and at our annual sports fundraiser. Craig’s direct efforts this year have brought our PAL $63,000 in contract services, $10,000 in asset forfeiture funds and another $10,000 through snack bar revenues. Craig gives of his own personal time, money, gas and energy as he works to build us a stronger PAL. We would like to recognize Craig’s efforts for building our PAL which served 12 youth in 1994 to an organization that will serve over 2,000 youth this year. Craig’s efforts are directly responsible for finding the resources needed to hire a full-time Executive Director. Presently Craig is pursuing a partnership with other local organizations to acquire land and build a go cart track as a permanent income source.

This nomination honors Craig and his wife Linda, because Linda has stood beside Craig in snack bars and at fundraisers, and she has supported his spirit of giving wholeheartedly to the youth in our PAL. This nomination is for Volunteer the Year, and also for a Lifetime Volunteer award.