Boys & Girls Clubs Believe Every Child can be GREAT!

The members of Rotary Club of West Polk County had the opportunity to learn about another wonderful organization serving the the youth of our region.  Jodie Warth (Chief Executive Officer) and Cailin Stockdale (Director of Marketing & Communication) for the Boys & Gils Clubs of Central Iowa gave a very vibrant presentation about what their organization does on a day to day basis and explained why they are worthy of support from the community they serve.

 

They have a very simple formula for success: "Take the young people who need us most and provide them with an outcome-driven Club experience to achieve our three priority outcomes of Academic Success, Good Character & Citizenship, and Healthy Lifestyles".  They work very closely with local schools to identify children who may need their assistance, they provide a number of programs to assist kids improve themselves physically, emotionally, and academically, and they then track the results of their efforts.

 

The organization is aware that juvenile crime escalates from 3-7 p.m.  The most glaring reason for this escalation is that 15.1 million kids are left unsupervised around our country during this time period.  So they provide before and after school programming, which allows them to engage kids who may otherwise not have anywhere to go, or anything productive to do during those times.  They also know that there are issues with diet.  Specifically noted was that some kids don't have access to enough food.  When kids are hungry, they cannot be expected to focus or perform well in a school setting.  So what does the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa do?  They feed them.  A simple act that by itself has proven to have dramatic positive results for many kids.

 

Finally, they track academic success.  Typically, the population that the Club works with would have issues with academics; and many of them would not graduate high-school.  But over 90% of Club alumni reported they earned a high school diploma or equivalent, which is nothing more than a remarkable success.

 

If you would like to learn more, become a volunteer, or make a gift in support of the work the the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa are doing, please visit www.bgcci.org.  Thank you to Rotarian Thomas Bosch (pictured center) for organizing this terrific presentation.