The Boys and Girls Club of Baja California Sur provides our young people with a safe, supportive, fun and enriching environment that inspires them and enables them to reach their full potential. The programs include classes and activities for healthy living (nutrition, physical health, healthy habits), art (drawing classes, art workshops, performing arts), education (math skills, technology skills, Spanish reading and language skills, work skills), sports (boxing, exercising, dance), and human development with the members and their families. This focus of these services is for children and youth between the ages of 6 and 18. The hope is that the Boys and Girls Club through these programs with have a social impact by increasing achievement and reducing school dropout rates, enacting positive social change, reducing vandalism in young people, reducing addiction in young people and training future community leaders.

One of the ways that they support their programs is through an annual fundraiser featuring a silent auction, live entertainment and a live auction. This year (2026), it was held on the beach in front of the Cabo Surf hotel and 7 Seas Restaurant. We arrived and received our paddle for the live auction at the entrance to the hotel. Walking through the restaurant and taking the stairs down to the beach, we were welcomed and offered a cocktail. Tables were pre-assigned and we were informed that during the first hour, cocktails would be available at the bar set up by Tequila Cabo Unico and Cincos Perro Tequila. We had a very interesting fruity cocktail. Soon, servers started to walk through the attendees and the tables and offer a number of different small appetizers on trays – buschetta, mini-fish tacos, tuna crackers. Down the center of the area, a series of tables were set up for the silent auction that had about a dozen interesting items and experiences donated by supporters of the Boys & Girls Club. On each table was a card outlining the eight items that would be sold at the live auction.

Once every one was seated, a main entrée of surf and turf was served and New York Cheesecake for dessert. Bereniece Noriega and her husband Rene, great live entertainers, played and sang for the attendees. Three of the children, who attend dance classes at the Boys & Girls Club provided a great demonstration of what they had learned. But the main entertainment of the night was Zack Krone of California Coastal Auctions. Not only could he talk faster than anyone could understand, but he was funny and amazingly engaging. With flattery, trickery and laughter he convinced attendees to increase their bids. After the main items (and a few extras – like cases of wine – I bought one), Zack asked the attendees to make a difference in the lives of the children of Los Cabos by raising their paddles to make a donation. He started this process at a $10,000 donation and lowered it to $100 getting donations from the crowd at every level. He was absolutely amazing in the way that he worked the crowd – cajoling, pitting attendees and against each other – and just making the plea as a former beneficiary of his local Boy & Girls Club as he grew up. The evening ended with more people having both enjoyed themselves and making some kind of commitment to the Boys and Girls Club of Baja California Sur.