The Boys & Girls Club Story

A Celebration FORE Kids!

Every two years, a special event in support of BGCA takes place. Called the Celebration Golf Tournament, it’s held at the host course of golf’s U.S. Open, about a month before the championship. The 2012 Celebration Tournament was last week at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. There were many highlights, but a couple really stood out.

Our 2011-12 National Youth of the Year Nick Foley spoke at the tournament dinner. He told us how Pittsburgh’s Sarah Heinz Club helped him to overcome a very difficult childhood. The audience was clearly moved by Nick’s story. This special young man will graduate from high school in June and enter Penn State University in the fall.

Nick Foley, BGCA's National Youth of the Year, spoke to supporters about the importance of the Sarah Heinz House Boys & Girls Club and how it made him feel "brand new."

After Nick’s comments, those in attendance couldn't stop talking about how important Clubs are to kids who need us most. This important audience learned about our primary outcome areas of academic success, good character & citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. They came to realize the transformational power and meaningful impact that local Clubs have on kids’ lives.

We also paid tribute to BGCA National Trustee Paul Spengler, Executive Vice President of the Pebble Beach Co. and tournament Chair. Paul is a guy who makes things happen. In fact, he helped found the tournament in 2000.

The support the tournament has generated for BGCA over the past dozen years has helped us carry out our mission to enable all kids to fulfill their potential. To recognize Paul’s outstanding commitment to youth, we presented him with BGCA’s foremost volunteer honor: the Herbert Hoover Humanitarian Award. 

My heartfelt thanks go out to Paul and the entire tournament committee. As a result of their dedication, hard work and undying support of young people, more than $1.3 million was raised last week to sustain our ongoing services to local Clubs and the kids and teens they serve.

Nurturing and Supporting Our Children

Graduation season is in full swing. This season I’ve shared in graduations of family, friends and their children from pre-k, high school, college, graduate school and boot camp. I even celebrated my own reunion from college. This season of pride and accomplishment marked by graduation is a major milestone.

In the traditions of my alma mater Spelman College, there is one that I feel so poignantly captures the common thread of graduation: the support of others that help each of us get to this point of achievement and celebration. At our reunion, it is a tradition for alumnae to lead the current year's graduates through the Alumnae Arch. As the Class of 2012 walked through the arch and hundreds of alumnae, family and friends cheered them on and greeted them with tears and hugs, I was reminded of the seed that was planted in me so long ago and of those who nurtured my aspirations.

Not one of us achieves this milestone alone. Someone nurtured, supported, nagged us along the way to push us forward to this accomplishment. My mother was my role model and set high expectations; my grandparents cheered me on and made me believe that I could be anything I wanted to be; my family and friends always welcomed me home with open arms and sent me back to school reenergized; and my fifth grade teacher motivated me and continued to offer her support long after I left her class.

My realization was that the same is true for my own children, but it is also true for the children in our lives. I began planting the seed in my children early with their own college t-shirts, pennants for their rooms and taking them on college campuses. The Club environment is ripe for being a safe haven for children to dream big and prepare for their future. 

Erica S. Stevens is BGCA's senior director of Education and the Arts.

If we want Club youth to graduate from high school -- or any level for that matter -- we must pay attention to and value each child's interests and believe in their potential. We must set high expectations and provide opportunities that help them learn more about their interests and expose them to others who can also support those interests. This is confirmed by the 2007 Harris Survey in which 62% of Club alumni said “the Club helped them become committed to their education” and 64% said “the Club had a positive effect on their goals and aspirations.”

So as we participate in graduation ceremonies and celebrations, I hope that we are all reminded that it is with the support of those we know and, often times, those we don't, that help us get to the celebration that the graduation season brings. We all can play a powerful role in preparing youth for a great future.

A New Day Dawns in San Diego

What a thrill to be a part of our 106th National Conference in San Diego. The energy generated by more than 2,500 Club leaders made it clear that our Boys & Girls Club Movement is ready to move forward to a new day.

We spoke of the need to grow within our existing footprint by increasing average daily attendance, which is fed by youth served and membership. ADA leads to frequency, which is the gateway to outcomes. The Formula for Impact was a centerpiece of the conference, with many great examples reported on how it’s coming to life at local Clubs across the country.

"As citizens, we have to have a voice," said Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor (retired). "We have developed iCivics to teach young people how government works."

Our sessions were truly standout events. Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s presentation on the importance of teaching civics to children and teens was a real eye-opener. Another crowd-pleaser was “Rediscovering Play,” which examined the spirit of play and its ability to maximize personal and professional growth.

At last year’s conference, we celebrated 20 years of partnering with the U.S. military to serve the children and families of our brave men and women in uniform. This year brought another significant milestone: the 20th anniversary of Boys & Girls Clubs on Native American lands. This partnership has blossomed over the past two decades to serve some 88,000 Native American youth at nearly 200 Clubs in 25 states. In commemoration, we presented a resolution to Jackie Johnson-Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. We also recognized Jackie’s tremendous leadership of our Native American National Advisory Committee with the JM Medallion.

This year's Alumni Hall of Fame inductees were impressive in their achievements and humble in their remarks.

Our Alumni Hall of Fame ceremony reminded us of the power of the Club Experience. Nine former Club kids were honored for extraordinary success in diverse fields such as the military, the arts and athletics. Each shared how their great future started with the self-confidence instilled in them at their Club.

Of course, these stories were complemented by so many others. One was from a staff member at the hotel, who told us how the Club saved his life; that if not for the Club, he would have followed the path of friends no longer with us … a powerful message we must never forget.

Kudos to our current regional and national Youth of the Year winners, too. These terrific young people lent a huge hand – hosting sessions, conducting a roundtable and generally serving as ambassadors for our Movement.

The Grand Finale on the last night wrapped things up wonderfully. Clubs were honored for exceptional marketing efforts and program offerings. Gifted Club members sang, danced and entertained the standing-room-only audience. Those young people are great examples of how a Club can nurture, support and bring out the very best in kids.

Like all the professionals and board volunteers who were there, the conference left me inspired, motivated and more determined than ever to increase Clubs’ impact on our kids.