For years, this Arcadia-based non-profit had operated on a bare-bones budget to provide educational and athletic programs for at-risk youths. But it won’t have to pinch pennies much longer.

Kare has been bequeathed $36.8 million, to be paid from the estate of an unspecified donor whose husband was a long-time participant in and supporter of Kare programs.

Kare learned of the pending gift last year, raising its certifiable assets to $38.7 million, up from $2 million the year before.

“To have a gift like this, it’s just a wonderful fulfillment of the years of dedication that (staff and volunteers) have given,” said Leslie Orsburn, the group’s development director. “It’s going to provide security for us to expand our program offerings to new communities.”

At the donor’s request, her identity is being kept under wraps until her death. Orsburn would not even say whether the gift is in the form of liquid or hard assets or both.

Though funds have not been received, Orsburn said the group was required to list the bequest on its tax filings as an asset for 2003, the year in which it was disclosed.

The gift is easily the largest windfall given to the organization, founded in 1931 as the Boy’s Christian League in East Pasadena by Orrick Hampton, who believed that sports builds character and leadership skills.

He selected East Pasadena because it contained a large number of at-risk youths.

The organization initially supported its after-school recreation leagues by selling Christmas cards, which were later produced on a printing press donated by a friend.

Hampton, who died in 1982, started a summer camp in the 1940s, and his wife Ruth founded similar programs for girls in the 1950s. Today, boys and girls compete in baseball, basketball, soccer and track. In the fall, the boys play football and the girls have volleyball and cheerleading.

Kare now operates Pearl Preparatory School for grades 1-5 in El Monte and Rio Hondo Preparatory School for grades 6-12 in Arcadia. It also operates the Mount Kare summer camp near Wrightwood and after-school programs for boys and girls in kindergarten through grade 12 in Arcadia and Covina.

Roughly 1,000 youths take part in Kare programs.

Nearly three-fourths of Kare’s $2.7 million annual operating budget comes from fees. Individual contributions account for 13.3 percent of the total, fundraisers 9 percent, grants 3.1 percent and the board of directors kick in 2.6 percent annually.

Plans call for the organization to expand its services into another area of the San Gabriel Valley within two years, regardless of when the check arrives.