oscar cross boys and girls club van
oscar cross boys and girls club van
Our dues are low so that all children can have access to our programs. Your financial investment helps us continue to welcome and inspire more and more children who need help each day. Your support helps us be their home away from home. It just takes one person to help make dreams come true. It just takes you.
Concentrating on children who need us most, we provide each child who comes to our Club with the tools to make positive choices, but we cannot do it alone. We need the support of caring people and community leaders like you. It just takes one person to make a difference in the life of a child. You can be that person.
Your investment enables our caring, dedicated staff to forge strong relationships with young people and influence their ability to succeed in life.
Your dollars support the Boys & Girls Club in our community. Your dollars help build a brighter tomorrow for more of our children.
Oscar Cross Boys & Girls Club of Paducah is part of a unified nationwide affiliation of some 4000 Clubs and provides after-school and summer programming to more than 500 youth annually. The average daily attendance is approximately 127 members during the school year and over 135 during the summer. Overall, we had over 26,000 youth enter our facility in 2012 and provided outreach services to more than 800 children at one or more of our community events.
Locally, membership fees are $15.00 per member compared to the approximate $1500 annual cost to the Club to provide services to just one child. More than 75% of the Club’s members rely on, free/ reduced government subsidized lunch program at school and cannot afford after- school care. The Club provides its services by fundraising this gap.
According to the most recent community needs assessment performed by the United Way titled Impact Poverty,
“Children and youth need more than academic support to make it through high school successfully. Building these kinds of relationships is particularly important for at-risk youth form struggling homes or low-income neighborhoods…”
Working with the Boys and Girls Club of America, the Oscar Cross Boys and Girls Club launched the Cultivating the Future (CTF) Mentoring Program in 2011. Each year our staff recruits and trains adult mentors and pairs them with Club members. Mentors are asked to meet on a weekly basis with their designated mentee. With the assistance of the McCracken County Community Career Endowment, each mentor is given materials that can help strengthen the impact and grow long lasting positive relationships. Since its inception, the CTF Program has helped pair over 30 youth with mentors each year.
According to a recent statewide assessment issued by the Kentucky Department of Education, there is a need to help a large group of students in some specific areas assessed by annual evaluations. It is important to understand that local youth are not struggling due to a lack of effort on behalf of our school system. Learning doesn’t just depend upon what happens after the school bell rings, learning is also dependent upon what happens after school gets out in the afternoon. The reality is that the vast majority of our community’s children are coming home to empty houses where there is no one to help them with their homework or to reinforce what is being taught at school. This is why after-school programs are so important in Paducah.
While struggling at school can have a dramatic impact on the future productivity of our community’s workforce, it will also have direct impact on the poverty level of future generation, as well as an impact on families that look to move to Paducah-McCracken Co.
The Oscar Cross Boys and Girls Club of Paducah offers a wide range of programs in the following areas: Education, Healthy Lifestyles, Character Development, The Arts and Recreation. Every day, staff members at the Club stand in the gap and help kids with their homework, re-enforce learning concepts taught during the school day with fun educationally redeeming programs, and teach computer literacy in the Club’s computer lab.
These programs have been shown to be effective. Last year, more than 200 members participated in the Club’s Power Hour program (homework assistance). Of those members tracked, more than 75% either maintained or improved their grades from one academic quarter to another. Over 40% of our over 500 members have been Boys and Girls Club members for more than 2 years. We believe that frequency of attendance is critical to achieving impact. In 2012, over 50% of our members attended the Club an average of more than two times per week. We feel that this positive impact makes a difference in our member’s ability to achieve success in school. We are proud to say that 99% of our members advanced grades accordingly from 2011-12 school year to the present school year. Less than 2% of our members have been retained in their current grade since 2010.
Every 24 hours across the United States more than 15,000 teens use drugs for the first time and on average a youth is arrested every 7 minutes for a drug crime. We believe this is in part the result of children coming home to an empty household during the hours immediately after school lets out. The Oscar Cross Boys and Girls Club fights this battle everyday by recruiting and retaining middle school and high school members, providing them a safe and positive environment. We feature many opportunities throughout the year to engage teen members in new opportunities and activities.
The Keystone and Torch clubs is the Boys and Girls Club’s most dynamic teen programs across the country. It affords teens an opportunity to gain valuable leadership and service experience. They conduct activities in three areas: academic success, career exploration and community service. Members of a Keystone Club and Torch Club learn how to be leaders and how to effectively “project manage” by conducting community service projects. Perhaps most importantly, participants learn that there is something larger than them in this world, and that they have responsibilities back to the community.
It works…
Rather than learning how to be leaders as a member of a gang, teens are afforded the opportunity to learn how to be leaders in a safe and nurturing place. In the last 12 months, 40 teenagers have participated in either the Keystone Club or as a member of the Torch Club. The Club has conducted 5 community service projects that totaled 300 service hours to the community. In the next year we project 15 projects being completed, which should add up to 800 estimated service hours.
While money is a necessary component for the Oscar Cross Boys & Girls Club to function and operate, volunteers are essential for our programs to flourish. We serve between 120 and 140 kids daily. With volunteers that believe in our mission walking our halls and engaging with the youth that attend the club we are making a huge impact, and you can be a part of this movement. After filling out the proper paper work you can get started in as little as three days.
Any type of monetary donation is accepted and appreciated, but please recognize that your time is just as valuable if not more. While giving your time not only will you be providing a service to your community and future, you’ll also be providing a service to yourself. The only thing worse than having nothing is having nothing to give. Your presence at our club can change a child’s life forever.
Our Club is always looking for volunteers with skills or interests in fine arts, crafts, dance, music, sports, computer technology…you name it. And, we’ve created a simple application process – take a look.
Step 1: Find an interest (s) below
Step 2: Complete our volunteer application
Step 3: You will be invited to schedule a Volunteer Orientation; the session will include a tour of the Club, review of mutual expectations, and the responsibilities you will have as a volunteer. After filling out the proper paper work you can get started in as little as three days.
Generally, we need volunteers who are able to commit to one or two hours per week, for at least three months. The times of greatest need for volunteers are weekdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Some short-term projects and single-event opportunities arise as well.
If you can’t make a regular commitment, you may still want to consider engaging through Corporate & Group Volunteering. For more information, contact the office at 270-444-9124 or email us at contact.us@oscarcrosspad.org