The Clifton Park Town Board at its Monday, Dec. 10, meeting honored retired CAPTAIN Youth and Family Services employee Karyl Camardo for her contribution to the community.
Camardo, of Blue Spruce Lane, Ballston Lake, has been affiliated with CAPTAIN for 27 years.
CAPTAIN was founded in 1977 by a group of neighbors to collectively deal with community needs. They had a guiding strategy: to involve teens as a part of the solution and to collaborate with school churches, local governments and businesses to weave together services that can change lives. The strong belief in the volunteer-based program still carries through to today, where more than 300 community volunteers carry out the variety of services offered locally.
Camardo said she became involved with the organization as a mother long before she was a staff member.
I became involved as the mother of three children, two of whom were teenagers, she said. `At that time, CAPTAIN was primarily a place where teens could go for something to do.`
Camardo served as treasurer to the organization’s board of directors from 1979 to 1982 and then became a staff member in 1985, when she took on the role of program director, and later as youth services director, supervising manager for the court intervention diversion program and family development program manager.
`I’ve played a lot of different roles in CAPTAIN’s history, and it was always very important to me,` said Camardo.
She says she is looking forward to the next phase in her life, but will remain active in CAPTAIN as a volunteer.
The town board also adopted the 2008 plan for the town’s Section 8 housing program. The town’s program, initiated in 1981, will receive $295,851 in annual funding received 202 applications for aid by Monday, Dec 10. Fifty-nine of those received aid.
The board also donated two sheets of game ice for the Clifton Park Youth Hockey Association tournament to be held Jan. 4-6.
“
