Every day, nationwide, 11 million kids are left unsupervised after school. Boys & Girls Clubs are there to provide youth with quality after-school programming to keep them on track for academic success and a GREAT Future. More than 4,100 Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide serve nearly 4 million kids, providing resources and support after school to help kids graduate from high school with a plan for the future, demonstrate good character and citizenship, and lead a healthy lifestyle. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana’s Hammond Club has an annual membership of 835 members serving approximately 150 kids daily during the school year!
“Our Club can get pretty busy during the school-week,” states PJ Jones, club director for the Hammond Boys & Girls Club. “We love being busy – but a lot of kids can create some wear on our facility. Our Club’s Cadet Room for members ages 5 to 9 was beginning to show that it needed a little love,” Jones states further.
Enter Lake County Bar Association. Looking for a community service project, Debra White of the Lake County Bar Association worked with Bonnie Coleman, treasurer of the association and Board member of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana. They and a group of association members landed on providing a helping hand to the Boys & Girls Club. On Saturday, September 29 – a group of community-minded volunteers descended upon the Hammond Club to provide the love and attention the Cadet Room needed. From cleaning, organizing, painting, and refinishing Club benches and stools – the Cadet Room transformed!
“I really loved working with the volunteers,” explains Lisa Patrick, chief program officer for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana. “Our Club members notice when people are paying attention to and caring about them. Our Club members, with their re-vamped Cadet Room, understand that this was done for them and their Club. Our goal is that they take this generosity and learn to pay it forward now and long into the future.”
In addition to providing the volunteer service, Lake County Bar Association provided the Hammond Club with a $1,750 grant to purchase items and equipment for the Club’s Cadet Room clean-up.
About Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana:
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana enables young people to achieve GREAT futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Ten Club sites and eleven Kidstop locations throughout Lake and Porter Counties serve 10,000 young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana provides a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. When school is out, our Clubs are in! Learn more about membership, volunteer opportunities, or how to make a tax deductible gift your local Club at (219) 881-1060, or by visiting bgcgreaternwi.org. Great Futures Start HERE.
