Chop's Teen Club, a haven for teens in Santa Rosa, celebrated as it nears quarter century

Chop’s Teen Club is turning 22 and its friends are throwing a party.

There will be people dressed up, there will be dinner followed by birthday cake, there will be games, and live and silent auctions.

There will also be open doors — a behind the scenes look at the club that for more than two decades has quietly served thousands of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County teens in ways big and small.

Supporters call it Sonoma County’s best kept secret. But they also say it’d be great if it’s offerings weren’t so secret.

At Chop’s, kids can record music, they can play basketball, they can make food, they can serve food, they can do homework.

They can also do nothing.

“Here they can do what they want to do,” said executive director Melissa Stewart. “They have been in high stress, in class all day, or their housing environment might be a little stressful. So being able to lounge is really important. You have to see it. It’s hard to explain.”

So the party on Saturday night is an off-hours chance to see it.

But it’s also a chance to support it.

The purpose behind the party is to celebrate, to be sure. But the folks at Chop’s say Saturday night’s birthday party is also a crucial part of meeting their bottom line.

“Our goal is to raise $100,000, about 10% of our annual budget right now,” Stewart said. “There is a misperception in the community about Chop’s and what money we might have.”

The genesis of the teen center is fairly well-known, storied even.

When he died in 1995, attorney, business owner and former Santa Rosa Mayor Charles “Chop” DeMeo left approximately $16 million to provide services for teens as well as young, struggling mothers.

With that kind of backing, Chop’s Teen Club opened in 2001 at 509 Adams St.

When it opened, memberships were a symbolic $1 a year. Today, the fee is $75 but for the amenities offered inside, that amount, too, feels mostly symbolic.

Beyond the doors, teens find a technology room, an indoor basketball court, a cafe with full food service as well as a small stage, an art room bursting with supplies including a pottery wheel, a music studio with keyboards, mics and guitars.

There is also a college and career center and a work ready program.

On this day, standing behind the counter at the cafe, is where I find Miranda Cabrera, an eighth grader at Slater Middle School who has just joined the Chop’s work ready program.

She’s learning some basics of food handling and order taking.

“It’s anything we might need to get an actual job in the real world,” she said. “I feel like if I start preparing for it now, in eighth grade, I’ll have a better chance of getting hired in the future.”

Ashley Strain may be the perfect embodiment of that ideal.

Strain started coming to Chop’s years ago as a seventh grader at Wright Charter School. She came every day through middle school, she came every day through high school at Elsie Allen High.

“I really fell in love with the dynamic,” she said. “It was a place to hang out that wasn’t school. I could just hang out but there was structure. I felt like it was a consistent place for me.”

“No matter what, there was a room and a staff person that met my interest at any point in time,” she said.

And when it came time in her life to get a job, where else would she apply?

She started out as a cafe assistant. Today she runs the cafe and also manages the college and career program in which students like Cabrera learn job skills.

It’s programs like those that demand funding sources beyond DeMeo’s initial gift.

“Our operations budget is (a little over) $1 million. Every year it’s getting harder and harder,” Stewart said. “It’s a big team effort to make sure we are getting it done.”

So that leaves fundraising and applying for grants and appealing to foundations for support, she said.

It also means throwing the annual birthday party like the one happening Saturday.

It’s a way to celebrate what Chop’s is but also to offer people an opportunity to support what Chop’s can grow into.

And a piece of that is letting people know what’s there, what is behind the doors, what they do, who they do it for.

The club has more than 1,000 members, Stewart said, about 400 of whom actively participate in programs.

“During a school day we’ll see anywhere from 45-65 kids a day, in the summer maybe 75-85,” she said.

But they can serve so many more.

Annaleise Aguilar started coming to Chop’s in seventh grade. Now a senior at Santa Rosa High, she’s the ambassador of the art room, meaning she has a leadership position in how the place is run.

But it wasn’t always this way. Aguilar said Chop’s helped her grow into her ambassador role, helped her grow into herself.

“I always heard kids going, ‘Oh are you going to Chop’s today? I’ll see you at Chop’s,’ and I was like, ‘What is this place?’” she said. “I finally asked someone.”

“As time went on I found friends, I found a community, I found interests, hobbies, I found confidence,” she said. “I found myself, honestly.”

Santa Rosa Middle schooler Spirit Mayhew, 12, comes for the regular basketball games and for a chance to play the drums.

“I don’t have drums at home, so it’s a good place. They have a bass, drums, keyboard, guitar and a microphone, then they have a sound booth too. You can add beats to it and you can sing to it and rap,” Mayhew said. “It’s just a good place to chill.”

Sitting at the counter at the cafe, Slater Middle School eighth grader Joey Sanders couldn’t say enough about the place.

A pair of headphones around his neck and wearing a Nirvana T-shirt while that very band’s music played from the speakers behind him, Sanders said he discovered Chop’s just after the beginning of the school year.

“I love it here,” he said. “There are cheap prices, stuff to do. You can do whatever you want. It’s amazing.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @benefield.