The Santa Cruz based non-profit, Friends of Santa Cruz County Parks (FSCCoP) was the recipient of a generous donation from Tina and Russ Coillot, owners of Fleet Feet Sports Aptos/Monterey. In a late morning ceremony at the Polo Grounds County Park on Wednesday, April 27, 2016, the Coillots presented a $2,200 check raised from Fleet Feet’s annual Shamrock Run at Pinto Lake County Park to Ray Cancino, representing the FSCCoP Board of Directors, and Jeff Gaffney, SC County Parks Director.
The funding will help provide financial assistance to local families for SC County’s summer swim and camp programs. During the Summer-2015 season, the Friends of Santa Cruz County Parks sponsored 28 swim scholarships for first time swimmers and helped eleven families send their children to summer camp.
Since its founding in the mid-1980s, FSCCoP has been providing financial support and assistance to a range of Santa Cruz County’s recreational park and art programs.
In 2014, Gretchen Iliff, superintendent of park facility maintenance with the Santa Cruz County Department of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services, asked Tina Coillot about Fleet Feet Sports donating the proceeds from the annual Shamrock Run at Pinto Lake County Park to the FSCCoP’s youth swim and recreation scholarship fund.
Thanks to Gretchen and the Coillots, the Shamrock Run has become an increasingly popular FSCCoP fundraising tradition!