STOCKTON - On Friday, May 13, the California Division of Juvenile Justice will honor foster grandparents who mentor and counsel juvenile offenders at the state's Stockton Complex.

The ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. at N.A. Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility, located at 7650 South Newcastle Road.

Foster grandparents have mentored youthful offenders in Stockton for 43 years. They provide guidance, advice, tutoring and emotional support for youth 40 hours a week. As volunteers, they are a daily presence in the lives of offenders, helping them learn in the classrooms and influencing their behavior in the living units of the N.A. Chaderjian and O.H. Close Youth Correctional Facilities.

Offenders and teachers alike credit the presence and influence of foster grandparents with providing a calming, trusting and learning atmosphere.

STOCKTON - Eat, shop, dance and explore at University of the Pacific's Eberhardt School of Business first ever "Prowlin Pacific," a community festival featuring live music, a car show, cook-off contest, Kiddie corner, wine tasting and a skateboard competition. The event will take place on Saturday, April 23 on the De Rosa University Center lawn on campus from 2 p.m. - 7 p.m.

The street festival will support and promote local businesses while reaching out to connect with the various communities that surround the college campus. The majority of the event's proceeds will be used to help fund students from El Dorado Elementary School to attend science camp.

For more information, visit www.facebook.com/prowlinpacific, call (209) 946-2628 or email ama.pacific@gmail.com.

STOCKTON - With recent reports of longer periods of unemployment after job losses and the unemployment rate still high, The Salvation Army serving the Stockton area is seeing heavy demand for food relief. More and more, neighbors are telling The Salvation Army they’ve finally reached the end of their savings. These people desperately need help.

"We don’t feed statistics, we feed people," said Capt. Eric Tumale, explaining his assessment of increased need. "In this community, we are seeing a whole new population coming to us for food. Our regulars are now being joined by the formerly middle-class, a group that's just begun to embrace a nightmare they probably thought they'd never see; no money for food. With foreclosures and gasoline and utility costs rising, not to mention the effects of recession, times are hard for many in our community."

Unfortunately, this phenomenon coincides with a seasonal low in Salvation Army food pantry supplies.