GREENFIELD — The City Council of Greenfield voted in favor of donating $2,500 to the Greenfield High School Sober Grad Night on May 9.
Sober Grad Night is traditionally celebrated the night of the seniors graduating from high school. The event is an attempt to keep students from drinking or taking drugs and then getting in a car and potentially hurting themselves or others by driving under the influence.
The city began donating to Sober Grad Night in 2014 when the group approached the City Council and were given $7,000. The next year the group was given $2,000 and the following year the council agreed to give $1,000 to use for things related to Sober Grad Night.
The Sober Grad Committee approached the council at its April 11 meeting and the item was agreed by the City Council, excluding Council Member Yanely Martinez, who currently serves on the Sober Grad Committee and recused herself from the discussion.
According to Finance Administrative Service Director Jeri Corgill, the Sober Grad Committee has raised $11,189 from donations and fundraisers. The Committee goal is to raise approximately $15,000.
“I think there was a mistake in last year’s donation,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Avelina Torres. “We had approved $1,000 and for some reason all they got was $100, so I actually feel that we do owe them maybe a little extra because of what happened last year.”
Mayor Jesus OlveraGarcia asked if the Sober Grad Committee had received any donations from the medical cannabis industry, which had made promises during the city council meeting where permits were given to the cultivation and manufacturing for 10 businesses.
“The city’s been making donations in the past years without having this multi-millionaire industry and we were very generous,” OlveraGarcia said. “They came in here and the majority of them said that they were going to give donations specifically to the sober grad. I’d like to see if that’s actually happening.”
According to Sober Grad Committee member Irene Garcia, the committee had not received any donations from the cannabis industry.
The City Council agreed to donate $2,500 to the Sober Grad Committee with a 3 to 1 vote in favor.
Torres voted no because she wanted to see the city donate the full $4,000.
