Fall 2011 Volume 6, Edition 2 Calgary-wide publication

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Empowering Youth to Make a DifferenceA room full of strangers at acommunity club he had never been towas not the first place 15-year Naimwanted to be spending his night.Despite the reassurances from hisfriends telling him about what a goodtime they had playing games the lasttime they attended the “teen dropin” at the Falconridge Boys and Girlsclub, Naim was reluctant to attend.kids while connecting them back totheir community, staff discussedwith Naim the possibility of beinga volunteer at the FalconridgeClub Summer Day Camp. Naimaccepted the opportunity and underthe mentorship of the Falconridgestaff, he learned new skills, whiledemonstrating a maturity andresponsibility beyond his years.Finally, with prodding from hisfriends, Naim pushed past hisfears and attend his first teendrop-in evening. Despite his initialhesitancy, he found him relaxingand enjoying the various games andactivities that were available to himat the cub. Naim stayed the entirenight, and then returned almostevery teen night after that. It wasn’tlong before Naim became morecomfortable and started hangingout at the club at different times andtrying different programs.Around this time, Naim’s began tooffer to help out with the youngerkids at the club. Knowing the impactvolunteering can have on people’swellbeing and seeing it as a greatway to build self-sufficiency in ourSome of his responsibilitiesincluded helping staff prepare clubactivities, supervising kids duringlunch time and being a positive rolemodel for younger children at camp.Naim truly enjoys his volunteerwork with the Boys and Girls Clubsof Calgary, “I enjoy volunteeringwith the Boys and Girls Clubbecause I really like spending timewith the younger members of theclub. It has been fun swimming andplaying games at the park!”It is wonderful to see how youthcan be given a chance throughvolunteering to help change andinfluence their communities.Despite his youth, Naim shows thatvolunteers of any age can make adifference.Volunteering is ultimately about helping others and having an impact onpeople’s wellbeing. Naim is a great youth volunteer and addition to ourclubs. And the skills and friendships that he makes at the Boys and GirlsClub will last him a lifetime.Sodexo Knows that Healthy Lunches Make for Healthy KidsMany families struggle to feed theirchildren nutritious lunches andsnacks during the school year, letalone the summer holidays. Whenchildren have healthy lunches theymore enthusiastic, energetic andwell behaved.“We are very honoured to be involvedwith such an important organizationlike the Boys & Girls Clubs of Calgaryand take great pride in being ableto make a difference in the lives ofyoung people,” says Brent Mann,General Manager, Sodexo Inc.Healthy food helps children focus on learning at school and fully participate inday camps at our clubs.Through their ‘Feeding the Future‘program, Sodexo provided 10,000lunches to kids in our communityclub programs over a 7-week period.Lunches are donated to Sodexo fromcompanies such as Canada Bread,Gordon Food Services, Kraft, andMaple Leaf. The lunches are thencarefully crafted by representativesfrom Feeding the Future, andvolunteers from Sodexo and MountRoyal University and then deliveredto the Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgaryfor distribution to our kids.As summer winds down and childrenreturn to school, consider making adonation to our FANS program wherewe provide over 172,000 nutritiousmeals and snacks to hungry childrenin the Calgary and separate schoolboards. For only $75.00, you canprovide 100 nutritious snacks hungryschoolchildren. To find how youcan help end the hunger, please callBrenda Finch today at 403-520-1508or bfinch@bgcc.ab.ca.6www.boysandgirlsclubsofcalgary.ca
Education: Critical – Yet Often Out of Reach for Vulnerable YouthAn estimated 3,000 students drop out of high school in Calgary every year.An estimated 3,000 students drop out of high school in Calgary every year.What better way to impact the world than to impact the life of a young person preparing to enter it than with a gift of a scholarship. There are many worthycauses to support. Few, however, have the far-reaching effect of a transformed mind, heart and soul.Mary SelbyScholarshipThe 10th consecutive $1,000Mary Selby Scholarship, fundedthrough the Children’s HospitalAids Society (CHAS), was awardedto Nicole Silver, a former Haven’sWay resident. Nicole was acceptedinto Mount Royal University’s openstudies program and will use herscholarship towards her tuition andschool supplies.Blake Cassels &Graydon Scholarshipscholarship to a former Avenue 15resident, Izabela Galazka, at ourAnnual General Meeting this pastJune, the sixth such scholarship since2006. For Izabela, the scholarship willbe used towards her tuition at MountRoyal University.Future GenerationScholarshipFuture Shop and the Boys and GirlsClubs of Canada piloted a new FutureGeneration Scholarship, to assiststudents in staying in school andgraduating. The scholarship provides40 youth in Grade 10 with a $750Future Shop gift card to purchasea new laptop, plus $1250 in trustwith the BGCC payable to a postsecondaryinstitute of their choiceupon completion of high school, aswell as a $250 Visa cash card to helppay for application fees. Since 2001,Future Shop has distributed over$1.5 million in scholarships, assistingmore than 520 youth in pursuing apost-secondary education.A $1500 ScholarshipAllows Youth toFollow his Dreams…Corbin Spiderwick, is one of 15youth in Canada to receive a $1,500scholarship from the ProfessionalInstitute of the Public Service ofCanada (PIPSC). This scholarship willenable Corbin Spiderwick the chanceto follow his dreams and desires ofhelping other disadvantaged youthby covering his tuition costs whilestudying the Legal Assistant Programat Bow Valley College.A firm believer that education canmake the difference in the lives ofour vulnerable youth, Blake Cassels& Graydon presented a $1500We thank all of our community partners whose creation of scholarships make it easier forour youth to achieve their academic dreams and fulfill their potential as self-reliant adults.Canada Safeway FoundationProvides Ingredients fora Successful LifeCirque Du Soleil’s GoodCitizenship Helps Raise$43,750 for our ProgramsFor the 3rd consecutive year, theCanada Safeway Foundation hasgiven children and youth from ourcommunity clubs, the chance toattend Camp Adventure and creatememories that will last a lifetime.As a result of their generous donationof $200,000 and thanks to theirongoing commitment to protect andnurture children and families, over700 kids ages 6 and up were given thechance to experience this summer’sCamp Adventure program.For a third year running, Cirque duSoleil provided Boys and Girls Clubsof Calgary with tickets to their Calgaryperformances that we could sell anduse the funds raised to directly supportour programs.With 350 tickets to the OVO show onFriday, September 9th, we began sellingtickets in earnest to our corporateand community partners and friends.Thanks to their support, we weresuccessful in selling all 350 tickets andraising $43,750 for our programs.Camp Adventure is located on 64acres in Kananaskis Country andprovides camping and outdoorexperiences for children and youth.The goal of Camp Adventure is toprovide children and youth withprimary experiences in naturethrough tipi living, team work,healthy outdoor activities and artsand crafts.We thank Canada SafewayFoundation and its volunteers fortheir unwavering support of ourchildren and families in Calgary.In addition, Cirque generously provided75 tickets for the Sept 6 dress rehearsalshow that provided our kids and youththe chance to attend and experience thewonders of OVO.Our sincere thanks to all of oursupporters for providing a world ofwonderment and entertainment forour kids.A good place to be7
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