NAPLES, Fla -- Hundreds of people gathered in Naples to raise money for a program central to the Immokalee community. For nearly three decades, the Guadalupe Center has improved the lives of impoverished kids.

Thursday night more than 300 people attended the Guadalupe Center's annual fundraising event at the Port Royal Club. The guests at the fundraiser are from all over Collier County, but they're brought together with one common passion; to educate kids in Immokalee.

Whether it is through after school programs for elementary students, jobs for high school students or scholarships for college students, the Guadalupe Center has the ability to give just about any kid growing up in Immokalee a chance they otherwise would never get.

Yvette Destin is one of those kids to come through the program. She says, "they helped me with scholarships to go to college." Now she works at the Guadalupe Center as a teacher and a mentor.

"I was there and in those shoes just a few years ago. I know exactly how they feel. I went through the same thing myself," Destin said.

It's success stories like this one and events like Thanksgiving in the Park that bring so many people out to support the center.

Roger Vasey, chairman of the Guadalupe Center board of trustees says more than 1,300 kids benefit from the programs daily.

"One person is even going to medical school. They never would have had this opportunity, never, without us being involved," says Mark Ryan, a donor from Marco Island.

Each year the fundraising event grows, but so does the need Immokalee. Vasey says more than 5,000 kids in Immokalee have no access to any of the programs offered by the Guadalupe Center and half are living in poverty.

That need, only serves as more motivation for the donors. Their hope, is to make sure the Guadalupe Center stays open for generations to come.

"These kids are going to do something spectacular," said Ryan.

The center has to raise $5 million a year to support the program for the kids in Immokalee.