Bremerton is filled with nonprofit organizations.

Big ones that are offshoot offices of nationally recognized names like the United Way, to middle organizations like the Bremerton Foodbank, all the way down to the smallest ones like those looking to partner with the building restoration of a city park property asset like the NAD Cabin.

There are nonprofits that are run totally aboveboard and are militant about staying in full and timely compliance with federal reporting requirements and then there are others that have their nonprofit status pulled from them by the IRS for failure to report multiple years’ worth of 990s.

Bremerton contains nonprofits with a clear vision of the community and the needs that their organization would fill.

Many have an even clearer message of how to go about filling their coffers with donations from those willing to lend a financial hand.

They are also clear, upfront and transparent about using those funds to dispense those services to the targeted individuals in need.

Bremerton is a very generous community. I have seen it myself first hand. From big donors where a four or five figure check is something they can easily absorb into their budget, down to the low income family living pay check to pay check who willingly give over that little extra they have to help somebody who needs it more than they do.

Bremerton is a generous community but it has limits and it does suffer from what has been labeled as donation fatigue when too many hands are out and aggressively fighting over too few dollars available.

This past week it was revealed that a local nonprofit organization for youth wellness and health was looking to hold a charity event in the form of a Winter Brewfest.

Money collected would go towards sports scholarships for youth who would not otherwise be able to afford the fees or equipment needed to play an organized sport.

The event would be for those 21 and older. It would also be held in the same youth-focused facility or gym that is utilized for the sports.

A brewfest event whose primary purpose is the promotion and consumption of alcohol being served in a place that in any other time or application would be banned from allowing such possession or consumption to occur.

These safe places that we set aside for the young people of our community to go and enjoy the activities of youth in, should be the safe places they can go to escape the pressures that the rest of the world places on them to grow up before they are legally, emotionally and/or physically ready.

The single exception for this event, just this one time they say, that is in direct opposition an otherwise stern and hard policy of zero tolerance for alcohol on site may gain that quick buck.

But the undermining of the overall message that the organization sustains will garner significant damage in how the community views such a decision and how the youth involved will view the blatant adult hypocrisy of those following through with it.

Colleen Smidt is a longtime resident of Bremerton who writes weekly about community and political matters. Email her at colleensmidt@gmail.com.