Sponsor a child at the Boys & Girls Club

Thanks to supporters like you, in 2014, our Oak View Branch gave a safe haven to more than 400 children from Huntington Beach’s most impoverished and dangerous neighborhood. In an area where gangs are trying to get elementary and middle school kids involved, where shootings and drugs are common, the Boys & Girls Club makes a real difference in kids’ lives. At the Club, they are safe. They have the chance to learn, play, and be carefree kids.The kids at our Oak View branch are living in extreme poverty. The average family has three kids and supports the whole family on an income of less than $1400 per month. Kids don’t always have enough to eat at home. They don’t have space to play because they are sharing apartments with other families and it’s not safe to play outside. Kids don’t have home computers to do their schoolwork. Poverty also puts the kids our Oak View Branch at greater risk of failing in school and having behavioral problems. The Boys & Girls Club helps with all of those things.

Here’s how your support of the Club makes a difference. Every single day, kids get a healthy meal so they won’t go hungry during their out of school time. Kids have space to play at the Club. About 75% say the Club is the only place they do active play or exercise outside of school. Kids get access to computer labs and our staff help them with their homework so that they have a better chance to succeed in school. We also run special academic focused programs that help children do better in school, too. It works - in 2014, 68% of kids in our summer reading program improved their reading by a full grade level! 

And our caring staff make a big difference in kids’ behavior, too. One of our members, Aldi, has really benefited from your gift of a sponsorship to the Boys & Girls Club this last year. He’s been with us since the Oak View Branch opened in fall 2012. Becky, the site’s Program Director, says, “Aldi’s been a troubled kid from the start. He’s had a bad temper and a lot of trouble with being a good sport. On top of that, his mom had a baby this year and she was struggling a lot with post-partum depression. Her low moods and emotional struggles took a toll on Aldi. I noticed that he was really down and that his temper and sportsmanship were getting worse than ever. To help, we made Aldi part of our mentoring program. Aldi and his mentor meet each week to talk. His mentor paid special attention to Aldi in the program areas as well. Aldi has improved so much! When he’s struggling, he comes and talks to his mentor. He’s getting a good handle on his temper and becoming a good sport. This fall, we launched a brand new flag football league. Aldi played in the league and learned about being part of a team, working together with his friends. And, he even got to be a leader as team captain. This opportunity to be a leader transformed how he saw himself and how he wanted others to see him. As team captain, he felt like he needed to set a good example for the team. So, even when the team lost, he showed much better sportsmanship than he ever had before. We encourage that same desire to be a leader off the field, too. We remind him that he is the oldest child in his family and he can be a role model and a good example for his younger siblings. The combination of mentoring, teamwork, and leadership has been amazing for Aldi. He’s a much happier kid now and I have seen a lot of growth in his good character.” You're changing one life at a time by supporting the Boys & Girls Club. And it adds up! More than 9,500 children will benefit from the Boys & Girls Club in 2015. Thank you for your past support and we hope you will consider making a gift today to change another life for the better!

Meet Giselle. She’s one of the kids whose life you change by supporting the Boys & Girls Club. Since the Oak View Branch’s opening in 2012, Giselle has attended the Club almost every day. As a bright young girl, she always had plenty of questions for our staff. She wanted to know about the big questions facing adolescents. Growing up, her body, changing social dynamics, expectations at school, and lots more. Thanks to your support, the Club’s staff was there to try to give her all the answers she needed. But, they also realized that if Giselle had so many questions, lots of other girls probably did, too. She was just the only one brave enough to ask.

Inspired by her curiosity, the staff started SMART Girls. The program is designed to help pre-teen and teen girls discuss sensitive issues in a safe environment of other girls their age, led by staff mentors. The program also encourages positive peer pressure to help kids make the right choices about drugs, alcohol, relationships, and more. And, the program helps build kids’ self-esteem. With the guidance and mentorship of the Club’s staff, Giselle grew from a shy, and reserved child to a confident, and self-assured teen today. Giselle has become a leader among her peers.

Giselle is also a fantastic student. As a Club supporter, you are giving her the resources she needs to live up to her full potential as a true star student. She is only in 9^th grade, but she’s already taking Advanced Placement courses! She counts on the Club to get help with her homework and to get the computer access she needs in order to complete homework that requires internet research or typed papers. Like most of our Oak View Branch members, she doesn’t have a home computer or internet access. When she’s at the Oak View Branch, she can use the Club’s computer lab. Giselle says, “Without the Club, I’d have to drop my AP classes because I wouldn’t be able to do my homework.”  The computer access she gets at the Club helps her stay on par with her more affluent peers in high school.  She’s a bright girl. With your continued support, the Club can give her educational opportunities she can’t get at home.Thank you for changing Giselle’s life and helping her create a great future for herself. 

There are more than 400 kids at our Oak View Branch. Each one is counting on donors like you. With your help, they can come to the Boys & Girls Club each day to get the resources and support they need to succeed in school and in life. Please make a gift to sponsor a child today. 

There are well over 1,000 children at the Boys & Girls Clubs in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley who have no home internet access at all and even more whose only internet access is on their mom or dad’s cell phone. That makes the Boys & Girls Club’s technology labs their primary internet access during out of school time. Your sponsorship and support of kids in need helps give them that important resource. 

The Club is very excited to announce that this fall, 30 new computers were donated to create new technology labs at the Club dedicated to helping youth learn through the Kahn Academy. Our local newspaper, the Orange County Register, reported, "The unveiling of 30 new HP Chromebook 14 computers at the Fountain Valley Boys & Girls Club branch grabbed the attention of nearby children last week, and a small crowd grew as the laptops blinked with life.Several students looked on as Tanya Hoxsie, CEO for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley, and Tim Nolan, unit director for the Huntington Beach branch, turned on several Chromebooks, prompting one student to ask the question all others had on their mind: “Are those ours?” Hoxsie smiled and said, 'In a few of weeks, they will be.'...Hoxsie said the decision to beef up the technology for the club came after she witnessed a demonstration of the online academic learning program Khan Academy by Salman Khan during a Boys & Girls Club conference in May. Having the Chromebooks coupled with the Khan Academy was a strong match, according to Hoxsie. 'By the end of the session, we knew that this was something we needed to have for our kids,' Hoxsie said."

Kahn Academy is a website that features thousands of educational tutorials on subjects like math, history, healthcare, medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, civics, art history, economics, computer science, and more. The tutorials are provided in short, conversational videos. They often feature doodles, drawings and notes to make them accessible and appealing to kids. Through these videos, kids can learn about any topic that interests them. They can extend their learning beyond what’s taught in school or get extra help in subjects they are struggling in. To make sure they are mastering the subjects that they are watching videos about, kids use practice exercises and activities on the website. Access to the Kahn Academy will help kids at every academic level. Those who struggle with traditional classroom learning may have their interest sparked by the accessible style of the videos. Gifted kids will have something new to challenge them. And, all kids will be able to explore new ideas that they might not have learned about otherwise.

When you sponsor a child at the Boys & Girls Club, you are opening the door to technology and education that they wouldn't get otherwise. You are helping keep a low income child on par with his more affluent peers. You're helping him succeed in school today, and learn what he needs for a lifetime of success. You are changing a child's life for the better. Thank you. 

At the Boys & Girls Club, we add "teaching moments" to everything we do. Your support for our programs means that while kids are having fun, they're also learning something. And when we can bring different topics together – like mixing art and science in one fun project – it gets even better!

The kids at our Oak View Branch recently did just that by participating in MUZEO’s TrashARTist Challenge. In this annual art contest, Orange County youth learn about zero-waste recycling by turning trash into art. Our Oak View members collected cardboard, chip bags, and newspaper for months to make their TrashART project: a giant 5’ piñata. The idea started with a dialogue about the positive and the negative aspects of the community. The kids loved talking about the taco trucks in the neighborhood, the traditional dances that many of our students participate in, and the elements in their culture that make them happy. Unfortunately, the negative outweighs the positive at times, and trash is the first problem the kids pinpointed. So for the TrashARTist Challenge, the kids decided to bring the positive and the negative together to create an art piece that provided a solution to the issue of waste, while also representing one of the best traditional moments at a children’s party - breaking the piñata!

The kids had a great time putting the piñata together. And in the process, they got to learn lots of different things. They put their geometry skills to the test by using ratios and measurements. They used their creativity to tackle the problem of litter in their neighborhood. They celebrated one of their favorite community and cultural traditions with their piñata design. They learned the importance of conservation and sustainability. They discovered careers in architecture and urban planning. And, they learned how to work as a team.

Our members' hard work paid off when their piñata won 2nd Place in the TrashARTist Challenge’s 3rd-5th Grade category! And to top it all off, the piñata will be featured in the TrashARTist Challenge “Winner’s Circle” within MUZEO’s "Transcending Trash: The Art of Upcycling" exhibit all summer long.

Thanks to your support, kids are realizing all the amazing things they can accomplish every day at the Boys & Girls Club – like making an art piece that gets displayed in a real museum! Thank you for helping our community's kids find creative ways to open the door to their great futures!

When you support the Boys & Girls Club, you're helping kids learn and grow so they can do better in school and in life. I'd like to tell you about one girl in particular who has made amazing progress during her time at the Club, thanks to support from generous donors like you.

Cecilia is an 8th grader at the Boys & Girls Club’s Oak View Branch. When she first started coming to the Club last summer, she was reading at a 2nd grade level. That’s 6 grades behind! Club staff worked with her in our summer reading program and Cecilia jumped ahead 2 grade levels in just 8 weeks. We’ve continued to work with her throughout the school year. Now, in the spring semester, she’s reading at a 7th grade level! We couldn’t be more proud of her! She still has a little ways to go to get to grade level. So, we’re continuing to work with her. She is trying hard and we hope to get her up to grade level by the end of the school year. Then, she’ll be prepared for success in high school.

Thanks to your generous support for the Boys & Girls Club's programs, kids like Cecilia are discovering the great things they can achieve. Thank you for helping the Boys & Girls Club make a difference to the kids who need us most!