Devoted Few Motorcycle Club donates $1,000 to Yuma County Explorers

The Devoted Few Motorcycle Club put $1,000 directly into Yuma County’s public-safety pipeline Monday night, donating to the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Program to help buy new uniforms for young members. For families and for the program itself, that kind of support matters because uniforms are a practical cost that can keep teens from joining a hands-on path into law enforcement.

The donation went to YCSO Explorer Post 8066, which meets every other Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. at the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office. The program is part of Learning for Life, affiliated with the Boy Scouts of America, and it serves young people ages 14 through 20 who have completed eighth grade. Its focus is not ceremonial. YCSO says the Explorer Program gives participants training, competition, service and practical experience while building character, physical fitness, good citizenship and patriotism.

That mission makes the program more than an extracurricular activity. Explorers can take part in child identification fingerprinting, ride-alongs as civilian observers, dispatch-center assistance, administrative help, traffic control and color guard details. In a county where local agencies depend on trust, familiarity and a steady flow of future recruits, the program functions as one of the earliest entry points into county service and a potential hiring pipeline for Yuma’s law-enforcement agencies.

The Sheriff’s Office said Explorers logged 744 volunteer hours in 2024, a contribution valued at $25,883.76 nationally and $25,072.80 using Arizona’s hourly value for volunteer labor. Those numbers show the program already returns measurable service to Yuma County while giving teens structured experience in a field that often starts with mentorship long before a paycheck.

Club president Mike Cadriel said the donation came from a group with deep ties to the profession. “Our motorcycle club is basically a majority of law enforcement officers, either present or former,” Cadriel said. That background gave the gift a different weight than a routine check presentation: it linked current and retired officers with teenagers who may one day wear the county uniform themselves.

The Sheriff’s Office says its mission includes maintaining public safety in Yuma County, educating youth about responsible conduct and providing fair and impartial service to residents. The Explorer Program fits that mission by giving young men and women a structured way to test whether public service is the right career path. A 2014 Marine Corps Air Station Yuma article described the Yuma County Law Enforcement Explorer Academy in similar terms, noting youth ages 14 to 20 and participation from the Yuma Sector Border Patrol, Yuma Police Department and Yuma County Sheriff’s Department.