. . . . . . . . . . c o n n e c t i o n s

~ Anne McCormick

From the desk of the Executive Director: Wow! We‟ve have a wonderful summer, with all five of our Clubs at capacity with many new members! While we continued to “tighten the budget” this summer, we still had lots of fun with exciting programs and events. We shot water rockets, learned how to be safe in hurricanes, fire and water with the American Red Cross and held many popular Family Fun days! With our extensive staff training just completed, we‟re ready for our after-school program, starting Sept. 8th. With the continued great needs of our families, we promise to work with our non-profit partners to help during this challenging time! ~ Anne McCormick

Making a difference this summer

The trained youth development professionals at Boys & Girls Clubs work hard to make a difference in the lives of the children who attend the Clubs during the summer and after school — but did you know the difference these children make on our community, too? Throughout the summer, Club members gave back in many ways. In Indiantown, teens ran games for younger children during a YMCA summer fun day. In Palm City, members cleaned up trash from Leighton Park. East Stuart youth painted and landscaped the Gertrude Walton Child Care Center as part of the Great American Clean-up, volunteered with the Community Black Heritage Festival and did trash pick-ups in their neighborhood. In Hobe Sound, Club members participated in a trash “scavenger hunt” along the

Loxahatchee River in Jonathan Dickinson State Park. And this fall, the Port Salerno members will continue their “Adopt A Grandparent” program to really make a difference in Martin County!

Martin County‟s future leaders start at the Boys & Girls Club!

If you entered a Club branch this summer, chances are you‟ve seen responsible pre-teens and teens ushering younger Club members to their next

activity, answering phones, cleaning up and working hard to help the staff. These civic-minded youth are our beloved Junior Staff members — an elite crew of dedicated volunteers who are learning valuable job skills,

gaining self-esteem and leadership experience — all while being a big help this summer! These young people had to work to get the “job!” In Port

Salerno and in other branches, perspective Junior Staffers created resumes and dressed for success for interviews with their site coordinators. Thankfully, it wasn‟t ALL work! In Hobe Sound, for example, the Junior Staffers visited the Stuart airport as part of a career exploration program. And as a big reward for their help, the Junior Staff took a day cruise to the Bahamas! Being a leader sure pays off!

Autumn 2009

Members of the Torch Clubs painted and

landscaped as part of the Great American

Clean-up in East Stuart.

This summer’s

Junior Staffers

dressed up and

created re-

sumes for a

day of inter-

views at the

John & Marge

Bolton branch

Corporate Board

of Directors

Margaret Cole, co-founder

Peter S. Pauley, president

Kathy Adair

Marian Carpenter

Audrey H. Charlson

William C. Cox, Jr.

Dr. Charles A. Falcone

Lawrence Flinn, Jr.

Lynn Frank

Robert S. Kramer, Esq.

Jane Krebs

J.D. Lewis IV

Elizabeth H. Marsh

Valerie McNeely

Charles V. Moore

Leonard S. Platt

Jane Pratt

Robert Ranieri

Richard Sands

Rachel Scott

Eleanor R. Seaman

Art Stall

Ralph B. Vogel

William F. Whitman

Frederick C. Witsell, Jr.

David A. Wojcieszak

New partnership brings food, services

We are excited to announce a new collaboration with House of Hope, Whole Child Connection and Healthy Start, great local agencies that will bring food and services to the families of Club members! Thanks to the Safety Net Challenge funding received by House of Hope, Club members in East Stuart, Hobe Sound, Indiantown and Port Salerno will receive bags of food items to take home to their families for free. This adds to an already successful program with the Treasure Coast Food Bank. Meanwhile, Whole Child and Healthy Start are partnering with the Clubs to help parents gain access to low-cost health and wellness resources. Together, we are hiring a new staff member to work directly with children in Palm City. Plus, a trained staff member from Whole Child and Healthy Start will visit the Cole-Clark branch in Hobe Sound twice a week to provide needed resourced to families. What a great opportunity for our families!

We‟re cookin‟ this summer!

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East Stuart renovations shine up the Club

Been to the East Stuart Club at the city of Stuart‟s East 10th Street Recreation Center lately? Thanks to the generosity and drive of Kali deWindt and her father, Dana, the Club has been the spot of a major transformation! Along with new coats of peach, blue and light

green paint and bright white wainscoting, the front desk area was completely redone to include a marble top and two nice windows. A new office for the Tykes & Teens therapists was created to make room for a new soundproof recording studio! We received funding from Soroptimists International and CHARACTER COUNTS!, but we are still in need of an additional $5,000 to complete the recording studio project. Still, the Club will be getting newly refurbished billiard tables, a new fish tank, a sitting area and running track. The Grand Re-opening will be on Sept. 25, and you are invited!

BLAST OFF!

Making a water rocket with the help of volunteers from Pratt & Whitney at the Cole-Clark branch is as easy as…

1: Use old plastic soda bottles and used cardboard to construct the rocket. Decorate the rocket and let the glue dry

overnight! 2: Connect your rocket to a device that shoots water using compressed air brought by the Pratt & Whitney engineers and

gather with all your friends outside the Club.

3: Stay a safe distance away… and

watch „em go! These water rockets were able to shoot up to 200 feet in the air, and they taught members a cool science lesson while also using environmentally friendly, reused materials! What a fun way to stay cool this summer!

Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County

Inspirational signs

now hang behind the

front desk

A marble-topped front desk is just one

major improvement at East Stuart!

Cole-Clark

branch member

Tyler Baum, 9,

shows off a rock

cake he made as

part of the

culinary club

held this

summer. The

Hobe Sound

chefs will get a

boost from

plans for a new

kitchen here!

Details to come!

Welcome!

We are pleased to announce that Bob Zaccheo, a long-time supporter of the Clubs and a Tykes & Teens therapist who works in our East Stuart branch, will be the next Palm City branch board president. Thanks, Bob, for all you do!

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Volunteer Spotlight

There are a LOT of great things we can say about Paul Capobianco, a volunteer at the John & Marge Bolton branch in Port Salerno for seven years. He comes to the Club three or four days a week and helps with homework. In fact, he‟s the one we go to for tricky math and English questions! Mr. Paul has patience and a truly caring disposition, which makes him especially wonderful with the older Club members. He‟ll stay for hours just to be with a child he is mentoring. This year, he also brought in pots, seeds and soil and gave every member a little plant to grow at home. Last year, his project was woodworking. He pre-cut boards and helped the boys in Port Salerno create and paint birdhouses. But even beyond his creativity and generosity with the children, Mr. Paul is a big help to staff as well. He‟s quick to help with maintenance needs and so much more. His volunteer hours are even matched by donations from his employer, Pratt & Whitney! For being such a vital member of our Boys & Girls Club family, we salute Mr. Paul and thank him for all he‟s done!

Fish on!

We are excited to announce the Michael Shields Memorial Inshore Fishing Tournament to benefit our Palm City branch! The event will kick off with a Captain‟s Reception at River Palm Cottages and Fish Camp at 7 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25th, with the catch-and-release tournament beginning immediately afterward. Teams of up to four anglers will fish for snook, tarpon, redfish and trout. All anglers and their families are then invited to the awards ceremony at the River Palm at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26th. Co-chairmen R.J. Ferraro and Bob Zaccheo said the tournament is named in honor of Shields, a boyhood friend with a strong moral character like the kind the Clubs encourage in young people everyday. There are still opportunities for sponsorships or team registration! Interested in learning more? Log on to www.fishforthekids.org to download a registration form and see a list of our generous sponsors. The best part? Club members fish for free!

Paul Capobianco doing what he

does best — helping children!

School Supply

drives are a big help!

We‟ve been so fortunate this year to be the recipient of a number of great school supply drives. Staples, Publix and Wilmington Trust bank all did a great job organizing bags

of school supplies for us.

It‟s hard to overestimate how crucial these pens, paper, notebooks, calculators and more are to us. Many of our Club members are unable to afford these needs. And our staff use these items every day as part of Power Hour, our tutoring and homework help program. We can save the funds we would use on school supplies for other critical needs, like the cost to bus students to the Club straight from school! Bob and his son, Liam, now 7

Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County

We won!

We‟re so proud! For the second year in a row, we won an Honor Award from the Florida Area Council! Our Crocodile Explorer environmental program was named the best educational program by a Boys & Girls Club in the state!

8-year-old Ericka Valentin of Indiantown

helps deliver backpacks filled with school

supplies, donated by Wilmington Trust

Board members Rob Ranieri, Jane

Krebs, Rachel Scott and Lynn

Frank join our staff in accepting

the award recently in Tampa.

Mark Your Calendars!

AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAM BEGINS: 9/8

GRAND RE-OPENING: Sept. 25 at East Stuart

THE MICHAEL SHIELDS MEMORIAL IN-SHORE OPEN: Sept. 25-26, River Palm Cottages

RANCH ROAST: Info about this Indiantown branch benefit is coming soon!

15th ANNUAL GALA: Jan. 29, at Jupiter Island Beach Club

Thank

you UPS!

Call for more information: (772) 545-1255

Visit our locations:

Cole-Clark branch 11500 S.E. Lares Ave., Hobe Sound

East 10th Street Recreation Center 724 E. 10th St., Stuart Indiantown branch 14555 S.W. 174th Ct.

John & Marge Bolton branch 4731 S.E. Flounder Ave., Port Salerno

Palm City branch 1175 S.W. Martin Downs Boulevard

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NON-PROFIT U.S. Postage

PAID

Permit No. 645 Stuart, FL

P. O. Box 910 Hobe Sound, FL 33475

www.bgcmcfl.org

Pairing with United Way’s Martin Volunteers, an army of UPS

employees recently spent the day sprucing up the Indiantown

branch. They painted the interior of the homework room and

hallway, and they also trimmed the bushes out front.

The Club looks great for the after-school program!

Calm in the storm

Scripps Treasure

Coast Newspaper

photographer

Deborah Silver took

this great shot of a

Palm City branch

member meditating

after exercising. Staff

said, “OK! Everyone

breathe!” This

peaceful one sure did!

Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County

Please consider leaving a personal legacy to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Martin County!