On Dec. 6, the Pinecrest Youth Advisory Council hosted its first annual holiday outdoor Movie Night, showing the movie “Elf.” The event at Evelyn Greer Park was free and was meant to build community through an accessible event.
“It’s supposed to be a gathering for the community for people to meet other people and have a good time,” YAC member and Miami Palmetto Senior High freshman Grace Suarez said.
Since its creation, YAC has planned and held new events meant to improve the Village of Pinecrest area.
“My sister was a part of the organization for two years, and I really liked it because it was a great way to get involved in the community and make better improvements,” Suarez said.
Every year, YAC receives applications from new and returning members from grades eight to 12, accepting only 24 residents onto the committee. The YAC supervisors teach these members about the importance of community service as well as the role of government in the community around them.
“YAC has primarily two goals, so the first goal is to learn about government but the second goal is to volunteer and give back to the community,” YAC advisor and former Pinecrest Village Councilmember Katie Abbott said. “One of the things we always like to do is think about the activities that we can do for our youth in the community, so we came up with the movie night and we partnered with our parks and recreation department who, they’re so amazing and they were so helpful, and we decided to do Movie Night.”
The movie night, despite being a new idea to YAC, was an overwhelming accomplishment.
“It was our first time doing it and it was a huge success,” Abbott said. “A whole bunch of people came and we got a lot of really positive feedback and people asking if we’re going to do it again, if we’re going to do it at other times.”
Movie nights are not the only success of YAC, however. For the second year in a row, YAC is bringing back its Neon Fun Run event which will take place on March 15 and is open to all youth.
“We thank the community for their ongoing support and thank the community for coming to Movie Night, and they can always reach out to us and let us know if they have any ideas for future planning or feedback at all about our programs,” Abbott said.
For more information about YAC and their upcoming events, visit them on Instagram at @pinecrestyac.
