In the summer of 1990, a group of 26 middle school students from East Palo Alto cautiously stepped upon the Sacred Heart Prep campus and participated in the inaugural year of the Peninsula Bridge Program. Spearheaded by the indefatigably optimistic Les DeWitt and an enthusiastic Sister Brown at Sacred Heart, the Program quickly gained traction and expanded to Woodside Priory the following year. By 1994, Menlo, Castilleja and Crystal Springs Uplands had also joined the Peninsula Bridge family, and we recently welcomed St. Joseph's and St. Matthew's Episcopal as program sites as well, enabling us to reach almost 270 underserved students from East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, and San Mateo.
As we celebrate our 20th anniversary this summer, we will reflect upon the success of our first two decades and think about the thousands of middle school students and families we've supported, and be grateful for the positive impact we've had on so many lives. We've grown and matured a lot during those years, and we are now coming of age and poised to achieve new levels of success. We owe a lot of thanks to our friends and supporters, some of whom have been involved with Peninsula Bridge since the very beginning. Thank you! We hope you'll join us for one of our events or tours this year and help us recognize this important milestone in the organization's history.