Partnership expands B&G Club’s teen program
A local business donated the time and the materials to give local teens a place to hang out. Thanks to a partnership between Lowe’s Home Improvement store and the Benton County Boys & Girls Club, the Keystone program is in place for area teens.
The Boys & Girls Club doesn’t just serve the kids who arrive after school, unit director Josh Johnson said: The goal is to serve the entire community.
As “Club kids” grow up, their interests and needs change and the Boys & Girls Club is developing programs for those changing needs. One thing the Bella Vista Unit was missing was a place that appealed to teens. The club was using a former storage room on the second floor as their teen hangout, but it wasn’t very attractive. When volunteers from Lowe’s called, looking for a project, he knew it was a good match.
The volunteers, about seven at a time, completely redid the former storage room. They painted, added a new ceiling and new flooring and even helped find nicer furniture and a refrigerator. Now, after school, club members who are over 13 can go up to the teen room and play Xbox or just socialize, Johnson said.
Seth Cantrell has been a member of the Boys & Girls Club for six years. Now, as a ninth-grader in Gravette, he goes directly to the teen room and plays Xbox with friends. Usually, the members bring other games along to play as well.
Gravette teens can ride a school bus to the club, Johnson explained, but Bella Vista teens who attend Bentonville schools don’t have that option. There are no buses to the club from the Bentonville junior high schools or the high schools. That means teens from the Bentonville district have to want to be there. The new space and the Keystone program makes them want to be there.
The Keystone program, unit program director Shawn Sawyer said, is a national program for teens at Boys & Girls Clubs. There are three focus areas: academic success; outreach; and career readiness. The members plan and execute monthly service projects and they visit college campuses. Sometimes they work on bigger projects with other Keystone Clubs.
Last year, their biggest project was a get-together with Bella Vista police officers. The national theme was “Dialogue with Law Enforcement,” Johnson said. That inspired the group to plan the event. Even he was surprised at the number of Bella Vista police officers who attended. There was even a county deputy sheriff with the group. “It was a lot of fun,” Sawyer said. The teens assigned a few jobs to the adults, but they did all the planning themselves and there was little for the adults to do, Johnson said.
Planning has only begun for this school year, but Johnson is hoping the Keystone Club can be involved in the new walking and biking trails that are being built on the west side of Bella Vista. There’s one trail that goes very close to Boys & Girls Club property, so he hopes the Keystone members can help with building the trail. If they aren’t needed for the build, they may adopt the completed trail and make sure it remains in good condition.
Keystone members are expected to do 10 hours of community service each month, but they don’t have to do it as a group, Sawyer said. They can work individually away from the club.
Sawyer also supervises the Torch Club, which is for ages 11 to 13. This summer, it was mostly Torch Club member who tended the raised-bed garden outside the club. They had a good crop of peppers and zucchini, Sawyer said. It was distributed to the club families. Their next project will probably be organizing a drive for Hurricane Harvey survivors.
Torch Club members do four hours of community service a month.
By teaching their members to give back, the Boys & Girls Club will make a positive impact on the community — which is a goal, according to Johnson. He wants Bella Vistans to know that the Boys & Girls Club playground can be used by the community whenever the club is empty. He plans to add an outside basketball court.
“We want to be a destination,” he said.