Cape Coral Youth Council picks drive‑in movie as junior project; Sanchez named lead

The Cape Coral Youth Council voted at its July 11, 2025, meeting to adopt a drive‑in movie (with optional fair elements) as the junior project for the 2025–26 term and appointed Member Sanchez as the project lead.

The motion followed presentations from Vice Chair Brown, who proposed a flexible holiday fundraiser to benefit Children’s Network — an organization Brown said serves “about 2,500 kids who’ve experienced forms of abuse, neglect, and abandonment.” Brown described options that could include decorated trees with wish‑list tags at retail partners, a drive‑in movie with food trucks, or a community fair; she said timing around Thanksgiving and into December would likely produce the most participation.

The council debated logistics and fundraising mechanics, including whether food trucks or donated venues could be secured and what permits might be required. Assistant City Attorney (unnamed in the transcript) cautioned about chance‑based fundraising, saying, “They can’t do any chance based anything,” and clarified that the council cannot legally run raffles without a nonprofit structure but can sell items or collect donations into the council’s designated account.

Members then polled on two proposed junior ideas. The drive‑in movie proposal received 10 votes to 2 for the “Hope for the Holidays” toy‑drive concept, making the drive‑in movie the winning junior project. After that vote the council made a formal motion to adopt the drive‑in movie as the junior project; Member Saint Germain moved the adoption and Member Sanchez seconded the motion. The motion carried.

The council also voted to assign Member Sanchez as the project leader for the drive‑in movie. Members discussed combining elements (for example, hosting a toy‑donation station at a holiday movie) so the holiday toy drive could be folded into one of the movie events.

Advisor Hayden and staff offered implementation advice: start with a kickoff or “meet‑and‑greet” fundraiser to raise seed money, develop a budget and list of needed items, and pursue in‑kind donations (trees, screens, projector) and vendor commitments. Staff said the youth council has a designated city account that can receive funds from events and that the council should plan for permits and site approvals if it uses city‑owned property.

Next steps the council identified included forming a small project committee, preparing a budget and permit checklist, and scheduling a kickoff fundraiser in the fall. Member Sanchez will convene the junior project subcommittee and coordinate with staff on logistics and city requirements.

Supporters emphasized outreach and fact‑finding: members suggested using surveys or QR codes at events to collect resident views and to raise awareness of the youth council’s work.

The council’s decisions were procedural and focused on project selection and assignment; no external contracts or expenditures were authorized at the meeting.