2009-2010 Annual Report - Boys and Girls Club | of Harrisonburg ...

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Club Day Report Center Program (DRC) is developed and implemented at the Simms Center in conjunction with Harrisonburg City Schools in order to provide a positive, constructive, and productive alternative to short suspensions (1-10 days). Andy Huggins becomes Board President. Elkton Club is opened through an OJP federal start-up grant. The Ottobine Club closes. Todd Bale becomes the organizations second Executive Director. Board Members Gain Top Honors Andy Huggins, Virginia Board Member of the Year Two BGCHR board members received top honors from the State last spring in recognition of their leadership and service to BGCHR. Andy Huggins, immediate past president received the coveted 2010 Virginia Board Member of the Year Award, and Dixie Garber, board secretary, was named the State’s 2010 Virginia Bev Burton Award winner as the most impressive newcomer to a board leadership position. “One of the greatest examples of our community and organization working together in service is seen through our board of directors, which is comprised of 13 professional men and women who give tirelessly to the governance duties of our organization. They also fundraise, attend special events, serve as goodwill ambassadors throughout the community, set board policy and have oversight of our executive director. Community leaders who give their time, financial resources, and talent to any non-profit organization are prized jewels in themselves. But, when a board member devotes a large portion of his daily living to an organization, that’s something to celebrate and recognize. So it has been with Andy Huggins in his relationship with the Boys & Girls Clubs,” said Board President Derrick Whetzel. Since 1996, Mr. Huggins has given his all to BGCHR. During his years on the board, Mr. Huggins has served as a Corporate Board Member, Oscars Committee chairman, Board President, Resource Development Chairman, and in 2009, he co-chaired the It Just Takes One Annual Campaign. His tireless work on that campaign helped BGCHR exceed its fundraising goal by $40,000 dollars! “He has been here for us in good times and bad… always devoted, always giving, always leading, and always serving,” said Executive Director Todd Bale. Over the years, he has given Dixie Garber, Virginia Bev Burton Award Recipient personally to help the Clubs advance and fulfill the mission. He touches the greater community in numerous ways. He co-founded the Community Foundation, has served on the Big Brothers/Big Sisters Board of Directors, and hosts an annual Valentine’s Day luncheon for local widows and single ladies, so they don’t have to feel alone on that special day. And, he touches people far beyond the community’s borders. Each year, Mr. Huggins travels to far away places, such as Guatemala, with the famous Dr. Patch Adams to help in medical clinics for the poor. Clearly, Mr. Huggins’ humanity and social service touches not only BGCHR and the community, but other corners of the world, as well. New board members often bring new excitement and energy to a board. In 2009, Dixie Garber joined the board and did just that. She immediately assumed a role on the Finance Committee, and she has not let up in her work for BGCHR since. In the fall, she agreed to co-chair the It Just Takes One Annual Campaign with Mr. Huggins. Her understanding of the Neighborhood Assistance Program prompted her to develop a flier that clearly explained how our donors giving at certain levels can receive a 40% state tax credit on their gifts. That printed explanation, together with her and Mr. Huggins’s personal conversations with donors, added 15 new donors and over $18,000 to the organization’s donor base. Ms. Garber, senior vice president of credit administration for United Bank, is quick to tell others about our organization and its impact on the whole community. In addition to being a board member, she is also a Club parent. She has spoken to local school boards about our clubs and even convinced her husband, Mike, to join our Advisory Council and to write his own sizeable check for the campaign! Going Above
New Vision Academy Provides Hope The spring of 2010 brought a new initiative to the community for middle and high school youths who have been expelled from school and often are bound for the juvenile justice system. BGCHR joined forces with Harrisonburg City Public Schools to establish the New Vision Academy in response to the needs of this underserved segment of the teen population. The Academy, housed in the Lucy Simms Center, under the oversight of the Boys & Girls Clubs, stands as the last glimmer of hope for youths involved in negative life -changing behaviors to get their lives back on track and, hopefully, be reintroduced to the mainstream of education. “Through working with students who receive extra help in alternative environments, I have witnessed a common trait that exists among many of these youths. They have no positive vision for their future. If these students do have a vision, it is likely to be one that will perpetuate the dysfunctional family and environmental circumstances that they have been exposed to throughout their childhoods,” said Anthony Hill, BGCHR’s Teen Center director and area program coordinator for the organization. “The New Vision Academy is an alternative learning environment that is affording the expelled youths an opportunity to come here and engage in a minimum of three hours of educational instruction daily. Students placed in New Vision Academy must adhere to regular school rules as outlined in their home school student/parent handbooks. School district instructors provide the youths an opportunity to complete coursework that is equivalent to that of their home schools. The district also provides funding, supplies, and materials for the program,” said Hill. New Vision Academy is a Building Brighter transitional program. One of the goals of the program is to provide support in an effort to return the students to their home schools. For some of the older youths, however, the program prepares them for their GED. The program’s main goals are to: 1) reduce the dropout rate for Harrisonburg City Schools; 2) provide individual educational opportunities for expelled students that bring community resources to bear in a supportive way; 3) make students accountable for their own academic success; 4) provide course credit recovery; 5) provide a clear transition pathway back to their home schools; 6) provide relationships and mentoring for students with a long history of unsuccessful academic performance; and, 7) provide tangible evidence of their commitment, work ethic, and educational accomplishments while being expelled. The participating youths are evaluated for re-integration into their home school settings. To return to the schools, the youths must exhibit a pattern of attendance that will enable them to successfully keep pace with regular middle school or high school course work, demonstrate consistency in positive social interaction with a focus on school work, and maintain and complete a personal portfolio that includes original writings, documents produced from using technology in the form of graphs or spreadsheets, completed coursework, and documented community service. “The spring semester of last school year was our trial and test period. We served ___ youths at Simms through the New Vision Academy. These kids came to us from varied paths, ranging from severe truancy to gang involvement, and from teen pregnancy related matters to assignees from juvenile courts. Not all stayed the course, but most did and ___ successfully returned to their home schools in late August,” said Hill. Club Club successfully began their first annual ‘It Just Takes One’ campaign that raises $149,000, exceeding its goal. All clubs go over 100 members at each site. BGCHR begins programming in local schools delivering ‘Positive Action’ and ‘Second Step’ programming to city middle school students. Clubs begin additional collaboration with city schools forming the “New Vision Academy” and create successful Latino Outreach Project called “La Casita” which serves over 30 Hispanic youth a day. In spite of economic collapse and the seemingly disappearance of government funding – club balances $1.157M and shows $250K+ in financial performance improvement. BGCHR celebrates its 15th Anniversary and the 10th Anniversary for the Plains and South River Club.
Page 1 and 2: GREAT FUTURES START HERE. OF HARRIS
Page 3 and 4: A Message From Our Leader Club Fami
Page 5: Power Hour Provides Academic Succes
Page 9 and 10: und as her Scouts Club Boys Enjoy E
Page 11 and 12: Mrs. Cindy Hunter Mr. Carl Jackson

2009-2010 Annual Report - Boys and Girls Club | of Harrisonburg ...

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