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Picture of Giselle & her little sister standing in front of their story board.
A Community at Heart 
Power of One/Youth of the Year
March is always an exciting month for the Club.  Not only is spring fast approaching, but it also marks Boys & Girls Club week and the time we come together for our kids during this year’s Power of One/Youth of the Year Celebration.  The event which has evolved over time, has taken on a life of its own and plugs in local business leaders and community members with the Club's past successes over the year.  The event which was held at the Wedgewood, this month, spotlighted Elementary, Middle School and High School age Club kids.  All of whom had been selected on the basis of excelling in the values of leadership, service, academic excellence and healthy lifestyles. Yet the best part of the evening is always when the kids have the chance to share their narratives.  Some telling about their school successes, others about challenges that they had to overcome, but each shared in common a story about the Club and how it inspired their life.
Among other things, the event also kicked-off the Power of One/Youth of the Year Campaign, which promotes the spirit of philanthropy within the community.  The campaign helps draw in much needed financial support necessary to spread the cost of running all four Club locations throughout the year.  When all spoken for the Club delivers top-level programs to 1,300 children and teens; a snack and meal once a day; while also providing kids shuttle service at free or reduced cost.  All the while, still ensuring the maintenance and safety of all four facilities; and working together with 43 staff and 100 dedicated volunteers.  In all, the logistics of coordinating busses, programs and children can seem like an energizing, but sometimes daunting task.  And as quality programs continue to improve and grow at a steady stream, so does the demand for kids wanting to join; which CEO, Patti Birmingham, attests is always a good problem to have.  And despite a lean budget, she and her team continue to find balance and creative ways to keep the magic alive.  As one volunteer attests, "It may take hard work to keep the doors open, but it is the kids and families that keep coming back, time after time, that inspire us to continue our mission."

Saticoy Kids Help Decorate Local Hospital
If you happen to be strolling through the new pediatric wing of Community Memorial Hospital, you might find the atmosphere to be a little more inviting and kid inspired.  That is because La Vita Art Center is partnering with our Harrison and Addison Center Boys & Girls Clubs, including 50 local schools, as part of the Garden Art Project.  The project, which coincides with the re-opening of the hospital in the next couple months, involves 200 children and is overseen by 15 local artists, and is designed to promote creativity and hope in the lives of young patients.  In a place where the flurry of healthcare professionals bustling back and forth is regular, and the din of life support monitors sounding off echo constantly, it can create for an unsettling atmosphere. And more so than that it can be difficult to feel at home. However, in an effort to embrace compassion and create a feeling of normalcy, the Garden Art Project aims to subdue the frenzy of hospital life for a moment, in an effort to hold onto a little slice of being a kid.  Especially, in a place where it is difficult to see through to the next day. 
Club kids which included 2nd graders and middle schoolers, were lead by Mexican born and local artist Perea de la Cabada.  In effort to re-create a vision of what life might look like outside the hospital, the kids used water color paper and different layering techniques to create miniature windows.  Inside the windows they displayed a vision of what child might hope for or see themselves doing once they recovered.  One particular piece, drawn by one of our kids, depicted a little girl sitting by herself hosting an art show, which brought tears to many of our volunteers eyes,  One volunteer mentioning “that sometimes you don’t know what the kids are going to draw, but when they do, it always hits an emotional chord with us older people.”  The project which is being coordinated by Mary Perez, Program Director at La Vita Art Center, is shaping the way children and art can impact our local community.  In an interview, Mary commented that “several studies in hospitals link environment with healing; and connecting children with artwork is just a better way to promote hope for those that need it.”
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