Development & Special Events - A busy month!

Grants: We sent requests to Draper Family Fund (Oak View summer program), BGCA (FV Triple Play Leadership Club) and we will be submitting a request to Wells Fargo by the end of the month. We also submitted reports/invoices for OCTA and OJP, including an invoice for the deposit we put down for the five new school buses we have ordered. We received $15,000 for the Oak View summer program from LA Times Family Fund and we are talking with the OC Register Campership Fund about getting additional support for the program. We have also learned from OCTA that we will be eligible for funding in the 2013-2014 grant year and we are working on developing a plan to request additional support for transportation. We continue to work with the Orange County Children & Families Commission on our new grant for an Americorps VISTA member to join our team for volunteer recruitment and management focused on programs for children ages 0-5. We are interviewing now and hope to have a candidate selected by the end of the month. The VISTA member will start in August. We are now in our final quarter of our $1 million service payback for the $750,000 grant that we received a few years ago from the Children & Families Commission in support of the Robert Mayer Child Development Preschool. We are looking forward to the completion of reporting for this grant and the end of the need for a letter of credit from Independence Bank to secure the grant pending our final invoice for the April-June 2013 quarter.

Building Dreams Campaign: We received a contribution of $32,000 from Surf City Rotary

from the proceeds of Surf City Splash, bringing their grand total donated to the capital campaign to more than $200,000! Our next capital campaign fundraiser, the Pins for Kids Bowling Tournament, sponsored by FV Kiwanis, is coming up on August 3rd. This is an affordable fundraiser, with registration at $250 per team of four, so it’s less than $75 per person. If you’d like to register a team to bowl, please email Art at art@bgchv.com or give him a call at 714-531-2582. If you have items to donate for the raffle or auction, please drop them by or let Jamie know they will be coming.

Events: Our big focus this month was the JMG Security Systems Annual Benefit Golf Tournament. We had 269 golfers, nearly selling out both courses and the event was a big success. Thank you to all who golfed or helped out with the tournament. We are still waiting for final numbers, but we think it was a great success! October and our Annual Benefit Dinner and Auction are coming up sooner than you think – October 12th will be here before we know it! Please continue to reach out to your contacts to get them to commit to a table sponsorship or an auction item donation. Sponsors and guests can register at www.bgchv.com/greatfutures.

Marketing: This was a busy month for summer program materials. New contracts, program books, and promotional flyers and postcards were created and distributed. Our materials go home with thousands of kids in 30 local schools and get mailed to more than 3,000 homes. We sent out a press release regarding Surf City Splash which resulted in a nice article with an online photo

gallery in the OC Register. We sent out a press release regarding the marketing awards as well and FV Living Magazine will do a piece in their next issue. We will send a release by the end of the month JMG golf tournament once a final amount raised has been determined. We also wrote a column for the Huntington Beach Wave that served as a companion piece to an article about childhood obesity in Orange County. Our column promoted the Club’s programs that help combat childhood obesity by keeping kids active and healthy.

BGCHV.com

The Club Brings

Home the Gold!Plus two Silver and

one Bronze Awards

at the coveted MAC (Marketing & Communications)

Awards Luncheon!

At the Boys & Girls Clubs of

America national conference, our

Club accepted four major

awards for our efforts in Marketing

and Communications:

Gold for Comprehensive Marketing

Strategy, Silver for Special Events,

Silver for Great Futures Start Here,

and Bronze for Interactive and

Online Marketing.

Kingston Branch, Fountain Valley May 2013 Page 2

Robert Mayer Child Development Preschool, HB

It has been a fun and busy

month at the Kingston Branch.

Our Kinders have been learning

about Dinosaurs this month,

starting the Dinosaur unit with a

lesson about “amber.” During

that activity, the Kinders were

hard at work sanding down and

exploring the amber to find out if

it contained million year old bugs

or other artifacts! The Kinders

then worked together during

their Archaeology Dig to

excavate old dinosaur bones.

The Wind Power Club at the

Kingston Branch has been a

total success. Our younger

Kingston members have been

learning about renewable

energy, and have been working

together to assemble a wind

turbine complete with electric

generator, adjustable rotors, and

wind speed indicators. Our

members have been meeting

every Friday afternoon and have

conducted over 20 experiments

with their own wind turbine.

During each experiment, our

members have the opportunity

to learn about the physics of

force and motion as it applies to

wind power technology. Way to

go to our young scientists!

Lastly, our teens are taking an

initiative and making a pledge to

c o n t i n u e l e a r n i n g a n d

completing school and making

goals for college. “Diplomas 2

Degrees” is a teen program

that meets once a week where

our members are learning

about the importance of staying

in school and making a

difference in their community.

This month they were learning

about our nation’s statistics on

high school dropouts and the

effects it has not just in the

i nd i v idua l s bu t i n t he

communities when there is a

high dropout rate. Our teens

took these lessons seriously and

all took a pledge to stay in

May was a month full of

t r a in ing , ac t i v i t i e s and

celebrations! Curriculum has

included spring and the letters

“V” and “W” for the pre-k

children dressing up wacky for

Wacky Wednesday and the kids

making and eating worms in dirt

which consists of pudding,

crushed cookies and gummy

worms! Staff has been getting

very creative in their ways of

teaching the alphabet. This

month some of the classrooms

will be making Earth’s out of

blue paper mache balloons and

they will add green handprints to

the balloons. The children will

be walking around the center

picking up trash and will be

discussing keeping our earth

clean by recycling.

Recently we took our annual

school portraits! Our “Parent

Committee” and staff were part

of the backdrop selection

process. We enjoyed two days

filled with children dressed in

their best outfits and wearing big

smiles.

Every year we celebrate the

Week of The Young Child; this

year’s quote again was “Early

Years Are Learning Years!”

According to the National

Association for the Education of

Young Children (NAEYC), the

purpose for the week of the

young child is… “To focus public

attention on the needs of young

children and their families and to

recognize the early childhood

programs and services that

meet those needs.” We

celebrated all week long with a

variety of activities done in the

classroom like creating banners,

making handprint flowers and

birdhouses, and also reading

quotes parents wrote about why

they think their child is special.

We also offered a special

mother figure and child

breakfast, “Muffins with Mom”

and a separate day for “Donuts

with Dad.” The week ended with

a phenomenal carnival held for

the first time at our center where

Learning Center staff, children

and parents joined us.

May 6-10, 2013 we celebrated

Teacher Appreciation Week!

Staff were showered with words

of kindness for their hard work

and thoughtful homemade gifts

from the children.

The week ended with a delicious

pot luck put on by the families. The

month of May the pre-k staff

incorporated “Community Helpers”

into our curriculum. The children

decided they wanted to write thank

you cards to the firefighters that

help keep us safe. On May 10th the

pre-k children walked to the Murdy

Fire Station and delivered the thank

you cards, toured the fire house

and got to see the exciting features

of a fire truck! Our second set of

parent/teacher conferences took

place May 6th–17th. Staff completed

the Desired Results Assessment on

all the children and we met with

parents to review areas the children

grew in this past school year.

Portfolios that tracked the children’s

growth were put together and also

given to the parents.

Page 3 Twilight Education Project, HB

We had an informative month of

April for the parents, children and

staff of BGCHV-Twilight. In April

parents received valuable

information and were able to take

part in the presentation, “How to

Raise a Financially Smart Child.”

This presentation provided

parents with tools that could help

them and their children, better

manage their finances. The

presentation was a success to the

extent that parents were excited

about using the information

received and also requested more

presentations from the same

speaker.

On the children's side, six

graders through eighth graders

were able to participate in a

“Media Literacy” presentation that

taught them how to think about

information received through the

media. It was exciting to observe

the children interact throughout

the presentation and gain a better

understanding of the role media

plays in their life.

Our Twilight staff teachers

have been diligent about

developing fun filled and learning

activities for the preschoolers.

For example, during the last

week of April the teachers

focused on creating an activity

for the children that would help

make this year memorable for

their moms. Activities included

making hand-prints, shape cut-

outs and incorporating what they

learned about flower petals. The

month of April came to a finish by

acknowledging our wonderful

and hardworking teachers during

Teacher Appreciation Week.

ClubHouse Academy, FV This month at the ClubHouse

Academy has been a busy one!

First, we are preparing for our

upcoming Spring Recital. We

currently have over 150 children

signed up to perform tap, jazz,

hip hop, ballet, and preschool

dance numbers. There are so

many participants this time that

we have had to add a third act to

a c c o m m o d a t e a l l t h e

performers!

In other ClubHouse Academy

class news, the gymnastics

program is gearing up for their

semi-annual showcase event. At

least fifty of our skilled gymnasts

will perform floor, balance beam,

and uneven bar routines to a

crowd of their peers and

families. Our cheerleading

squad had the opportunity to

perform at some of the

basketball games, which was a

great way for them to show off

their team spirit and dance

moves during the basketball

game halftime.

The Spring sports season is

also just wrapping up. At the

beginning of the month, our

sports leagues participated in

photo day, and we had an

excellent turn out of kids! More

than sixty basketball and soccer

teams are just wrapping up a

successful season and finishing

up their playoff games.

In other sports news, our

athletic league at Oak View has

just completed its first season,

which was a complete success!

We had a great turn out of kids,

with six total teams that had the

opportunity to compete against

each other while learning basic

basketball skills, the importance

of sportsmanship, and how to be

a team player. It was a great

opportunity to provide a new

experience for many of these

kids, with the league being

extremely low cost and located

right in the center of their

neighborhood.

Another busy month for the

children and staff, we started

the month by celebrating

Teacher’s Appreciation Week

from May 7-11. The teachers

were very happy for all the

recognition that they received

from the parents. On Friday

May 11, the parents provided

lunch for all the staff and we had

food leftover for the rest of the

week. Children were busy

preparing gifts and cards for

Mother’s Day. On Friday, May

18, the Family Support Network,

for the sixth year, provided free

screening for the children at the

Learning Center and the

community. They

screened for seven

different areas, such

as speech, hearing,

vision, dental, mental

health, occupational

therapy, and physical

development. The

teachers have also

been working hard

filling out the DRDP-r

evaluation tool for the parent

conference that will take place

during the week of May 21-25.

Our enrollment continues to be

the same and we are looking

forward to summer.

Learning Center Child

Development Preschool, FV

Page 4 Huntington Beach Branch

Well first and foremost I would

like to thank the club for our

recent trip to the National

Conference in Orlando. It is

great to go and rub elbows with

like people to get new ideas and

a better understanding on club

life. I felt the sessions this year

were great and speakers like

Colin Powell, the Youths of the

Year, and the Hall of Fame

inductees were very

inspirational.

On April 19th we held a Family

Fun Night. This was a fantastic

night, over 50 families came to

the club to take

part in our

recreational

activities with their

children. We were

amazed by how

invested these

parents were in our

club and how much

fun they had

playing with their

children.

Our Torch club children planned a

park clean-up for Earth day.

Every member who was in

attendance that day helped to

give McCallen Park a face lift.

This activity really built a sense of

camaraderie and went a long way

to develop community spirit.

Every spring we run a carnival

but this year was something

special. We ran

our regular

activities and

games but this

year we added an

egg relay

competition. Our

kids went

absolutely crazy

for this event.

There was so

much cheering

and fun at the egg relay that we

ran races during the whole

carnival. Our kids were all in. It

looks like we will be adding this

event to every carnival in the

future.

Oak View Branch, HB

The enthusiasm and positive

energy continues to stay

consistent at Oak View. Our

members had a blast participating

in all the events offered at the

Club; National Boys & Girls Club

Week, Earth Day, and a special

puppet show presented by the

Red Cross. Oak View held its first

annual Boys and Girls Club of

America Week in April that

included a wide variety of special

events and activities for our

members to participate in. It

al lowed our members to

understand, embrace and

appreciate the mission of the

Boys and Girls Club. Our staff

planned daily challenges such as

a water balloon toss and Minute

to Win it challenges that resulted

in all members joining together to

p r o m o te g o o d

s p o r t s m a n s h i p .

Boys and Girls Club

week was extremely

successful, fun and

educational and

meaningful for both

our members and

staff. Also in April,

the Red Cross

hosted a puppet

show for our members. Our

members got the chance to learn

about Safety Drills, by using

Sesame Street puppets. Songs

were taught to

help members

know what to do

during a fire, an

earthquake and

how to safely get

out of a burning

b u i l d i n g .

Continuing with

o u r A p r i l

activities, Oak

View celebrated

Earth Day on

April 22nd. The

members learned the importance

of recycling. Club members

participated in decorating our

new recycle bin and created a

Promise Mural to the Earth.