Club offers children a place to go

With school out for the summer, many parents may be wondering what they will do to keep their children occupied for the next few months, and spending some time at the Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana may be the answer.
“Our mission is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens,” said Kimberly Newville, director of the Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana. “That’s what strikes me – those who need us most. I took for granted all the after school programs I participated in when I was in school. There are some children who have nowhere to go after school.”
“The Boys and Girls Club has programs and tools for great outcomes. The high school graduation rate for high school senior members is 100 percent.”
The club’s summer program kicks off Monday and will conclude July 31. Times are 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The summer program is open to children ages 6 to 18, and the fee is $20. There will be sports, recreation, computer and arts and crafts activities, including tap dancing classes by the Ragin Jazz, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Dance Team.
“The club is open to anyone, and often members introduce their friends to the club,” Newville said. “Some members take the bus and others are dropped off by parents, but the majority walk from their homes.”
The only Boys and Girls Club in St. Landry Parish is in Opelousas. The club is located at 814 East St. To contact the club, call 337-407-9962. The Opelousas club is part of the Acadiana Club group, and the group also includes the two locations in Lafayette and ones in Abbeville and New Iberia. The Acadiana Club serves more than 3,000 kids each year, and according to Neville, many of them are from single parent homes.
“My first experience with the club was when I toured there as Miss ULL (University of Louisiana at Lafayette),” Newville said. “The kids thought I was a princess. They wanted to wear my sash and crown.”
The organization also hosts an after school program during the school year, offering activities on education and careers, character and leadership, health and life skills, arts and sports, fitness and recreation.
“The Boys and Girls Club offers so many great programs,” Newville said. “The children work in concession stands to learn how to handle money. The Granberry Club in Lafayette has a t-shirt printing company, and the kids love working on the shirts. The club also hosts Lemonade Day where the children run a lemonade stand. Bank workers come in and teach them to use money, and some clubs even have garden for the children to grow vegetables.”
“The children are involved in things to get their minds working.”
Newville also spoke to Rotary members about how to get involved with the Boys and Girls Club as well as establishing a new club and fundraising.
“Volunteering at a club is a great first step,” she said. “We need get more people involved and get more resources. It takes a community to run a club.”
“We are trying to move away from grants (as a source of funding) – they have become too unpredictable (with the economy). We want to have more special events, like the Running of the Ducks. We raised $100,000 during the last one.”
During the year, the Acadiana Club also hosts the Celebrity Waiter Dinner and Auction, the Great Futures Gala and Brudley’s Wild Game Cookoff to help raise funds.
Newville read aloud The Starfish Story, adapted from “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley, which tells how even a little gesture by one person can make difference in someone’s else’s life.
“The story teaches us how every action counts no matter how small it seems at the time,” Newville said.