Intensive After School Program
Imagine an intensive after school program that takes in 375 low-income 4th to 12th graders a year from some of Santa Ana’s toughest neighborhoods with the goal to help them escape the poverty cycle and aspire to a worthy goal—say, college. Now suppose that the primary method to help the kids is through dance, from ballet to movement to modern. What success rate would you demand to support their good works? 50 percent? 75 percent? Well, some 300 supporters of The Wooden Floor and other wine enthusiasts attending the fifth annual Keep the Promise event at Newport’s Big Canyon Country Club learned that the group (formerly known as the St. Joseph Ballet) can boast even better numbers. Since 2005, 100 percent of graduates from The Wooden Floor have completed high school on time and enrolled in college, including event attendee Jessica Camacho, who currently attends Wellesley College in Massachusetts. The event featured fabulous wines from the Rhône region of France—all graciously donated by John and Janice Markley from their collection. More than $140,000 was raised for the Wooden Floor; 92 percent of the group’s funding is private, enabling its year-round programs to be offered free of charge to the majority of its students.
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