Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast will be celebrating their 51st anniversary on January 29th, and is taking this time to look back at their accomplishments. The non-profit invests in the lives of children by providing after school and summer programs. How has this investment paid off? This can probably be answered best by looking at where some alumni are now.
Kelvin Woodson, the Group Event Coordinator for the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Times Forum, began attending the Boys & Girls Clubs in Palmetto, FL when he was six.
“I have seen so many kids grow up and become successful. There are so many stories, from kids going to College and become successful businessman, to being on the University of Florida football team. Kids have the opportunity to make it out,” says Woodson of the organization.
Woodson grew up as an only child without a father, and Boys & Girls Clubs filled the gap made by the absence of family by providing him with a second home where he could be involved with many activities, such as sports and photography. Boys & Girls Clubs gave Kelvin the opportunity to visit places he would have never been able to go, such as Adventure Island, and gave him his first experience in public speaking.
Boys & Girls Clubs also gave Woodson his first job when he was 14 as a member leader training staff. “The club helped me grow faster and have more responsibility and leadership,” says Woodson. “This was a very positive influence in my life, and I loved working with children.”
Woodson attended FSU, graduating with a bachelors degree in marketing and sports management. He now serves as the Group Event Coordinator for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and gives back to Boys & Girls Clubs by getting children to experience hockey games and talk to the players. Perhaps he is inspiring the next Sidney Crosby? “I feel that I can give these kids opportunities that I never had,” says Woodson “and if I can be a role model for hard work and education…all the better.”
“If it matters to you to make a difference in the life of one child and change his life forever and if you desire to change his future and mold it forever, this is the way to do it. Help Boys & Girls Clubs - they provide the tools”
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast will celebrate these and other accomplishments during their annual gala, BE GROOVY TOO. This 1960’s themed fundraising event is on January 29th at the Sirata Beach Resort St. Petersburg Beach from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. Those interested should contact Carla Mattern at (727)-524-2427x17 or visit www.bgcsuncoast.org.
About the Boys & Girls Club of the Suncoast:
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America movement came to Pinellas County in November 1959 with the founding of the Boys Club of Pinellas Park by Police Chief Maurice L. MacTarsney and Margret “Peg” Nunn. The Club began operating in January 1960 in an old frame building leased from the City of Pinellas Park with its first executive director, James S Hart Jr. The Boys Clubs of Pinellas, Inc. was chartered in August 1967 when its second club opened at the Northside location in St. Petersburg. In May 1970, at the urging of both the United Way and the Boys Clubs of America, the Boys Clubs of Pinellas County, Inc. was organized. In 1991, the Boys Clubs of Pinellas County opened its programs to all youth, forming Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast (BGCS), as we know it today, now with eleven locations. BGCS, under the leadership of Carl R. Lavender, Jr. has the goal “to influence the behavior and the attitudes of each individual boy and girl in a wholesome manner.” The sole purpose of BGCS is to provide children, youth, their families and the community opportunities for safe, structured, well supervised after school and summer youth programs, with an emphasis on leadership, education and self-sufficiency. The organization has proven its commitment to service for children and community members with innovative and progressive programming and opportunities. Supporters of Boys & Girls Clubs include government politicians, law enforcement agency representatives, financial institutions, and education boards, among other concerned citizens. To find out more or to help, visit www.bgcsuncoast.org.
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