Summer Impact Report '21

IMPACT REPORT NAPA KIDS, NAPA STORIES, NAPA COMMUNITY

SUMMER 2021

We

To inspire and enable all young people,

especially those who need us most

to reach their full potential as

productive, caring, responsible citizens...

From the Executive, As the world resumes its sometimes unsteady march toward normalcy I am so happy to say that kids continue to thrive within our walls. None of this was normal. None of it was planned, but as the Pandemic abates we’re finding that it was also an opportunity for us to demonstrate the depth of our commitment to Napa Valley youth. A commitment expressed in the form a 300 consecutive days of full day, full service, and dynamic programs and care for Napa and American Canyon youth. Our Clubs are normally just open after school but in times of crisis the Boys & Girls Clubs says “how can we help?” For the Napa Clubs we met the emergent needs of Napa Families by tripling the number of hours we are open every day, offering full service distance learning support and most importantly we did it safely.

We are resilient but we’re also filled with hope as we return to normal operations. We’re returning to school campuses. Our staff are enthusiastically planning and designing new programs. We’re injecting Arts, Academics, and Leadership into the lives of our kids. We’re connecting youth with mental health services. We’re restarting our college campus tours program. We’re moving, we’re thriving, we’re thrilled to continue to build on and expand our relationships and deep commitment to Napa Valley youth and their families.

To our donors, thank you for your patient and heartfelt support as we continued to navigate this stressful period. At a time when those who need us most, never needed us more, you ensured that we could continue to do Whatever it Takes. I cannot adequately express how grateful we are or the impact this work has had on some of our communities most at risk children. Your support matters, and we couldn't ask for better partners. Thank you!

Greg Bouil erce Greg Bouillerce Executive Director

At the end of a long year of distanced learning the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley, with the financial support of Napa Valley Unified School District was able to offer a full 7 week summer program to over 550 children in Napa and American Canyon. “We felt it was important to offer kids something more than a digital device,” says Jaime Gallegos, the Club’s Director of Operations. “We were very intentional about putting down iPads, Chromebooks, and devices and replacing them with paint brushes, basketballs and fresh air.” More importantly because of a generous partnership with Napa Valley Unified School District, these programs were offered free of charge!

Napa Clubhouse

American Canyon Clubhouse

Total Youth Served

Pueblo Vista Elementary

Canyon Oaks Elementary

Jaymond is one of those youth who really demonstrates the formative power of the member experience at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley. As a foster youth, Jaymond had been yet again thrown into new environment.

That’s a daunting task for anyone but as a 7th grader, he really struggled to find his place. But with guidance and encouragement he became more confident, and is now one of our most ardent and inclusive members. Recently recognized as a Member of the Month in our Teen Center, he’s worked hard to be successful. This summer he discovered his passion for cooking and has shared that he wants to be a Chef when he finishes his education. Whatever he ends up doing, we are happy to be a part of his journey and to have played a role in his continued successes.

As

, Last Bottle has donated more

than $50,000 to provide ongoing support to Napa and American Canyon Youth! Join them as a business sponsor today! Click use the QR Code to participate!

or

it’s easier than ever to join the Business Campaign? With levels starting as low as $100/month your local business can have an immediate impact on the life of a child! Learn More and review a list of our current sponsors or visit us at www.BeGreatNV.org and click “See Our Sponsors!”

Following the Cancellation of its Kentucky Derby Gala in May of 2020, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley embarked on a new high profile gala event call the “UnGala.” Hosted by William Hill, the live 100 person event featured a 15 lot auction and raised $500,000, shattering previous efforts by a factor of three. We are incredibly grateful to have been able to host this outdoor event in July and in compliance with all COVID-19 guidelines and procedures.

“As a community, we believe that success is a shared venture; that our exceptional leaders, vintners, and partners understand that their success is born of the hard work and effort of our entire Napa Valley community, that the fruits of that labor enrich the lives of our community as a whole. With this spirit in mind, we know every child deserves the chance to realize their own limitless potential; tonight is an expression of your investment in, support of, and love for the Napa Valley and more importantly the generations of youth who continue to grow among the vines.”

-Greg Bouillerce, Executive Director, Boys & Girls Clubs of Napa Valley You can learn more about the event at the Club’s website at www.begreatnv.org

As

, these businesses donated

$10,000

to provide ongoing support to Napa and American Canyon Youth!

Join them as a business sponsor today! Click or use the QR Code to participate!

it’s easier than ever to join the Business Campaign? With levels starting as low as $100/month your local business can have an immediate impact on the life of a child! Learn More and review a list of our current sponsors or visit us at www.BeGreatNV.org and click “See Our Sponsors!”

After a year of lockdowns, distance learning support, masks, and fear, it would have been easy just to check out and call it a day; but that’s not how the teens at Club 1515 see it. “This was a chance for us to really have an impact.” That spirit and tenacity translated into a nationally recognized teen outreach program which ran for 18 consecutive months. In the wake of the initial shelter in place orders in March of 2020, Club 1515’s Keystone Club with the guidance of Josh Sergeson, Teen Coordinator, recognized the growing danger to isolated teens and began work on a series of initiatives to keep them engaged with the Club but, more importantly, with each other. Using text messaging, zoom, and a number of other familiar tools Club 1515 organized everything from digital social gatherings to a full fledged digital lock-in that engaged at times over a thousand teens across the country. This incredible effort did not go unnoticed as Club 1515’s Keystone Club was recognized by Boys & Girls Clubs of America for orchestrating the best Teen Outreach program of over 5,000 Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide.

ow do they live like this? I think to myself after seeing the shape of a person in the middle of bags full of bottles and cans. What if I were to tell you there was a pandemic happening well before the outbreak in 2020? You might look past it and not be able to put a name to it.

Homelessness. It is the thing that is quiet and loud, insignificant and chronic, invisible but exposed to prying eyes that are upset for the wrong reasons.

Last year the pandemic affected all of us in different ways, but we all worried more than normal. All along, there were people in Napa that could not even meet the basic standard of living: the homeless. We, the housed, worried about our jobs, food, gas, family, friends, and our future. The homeless did not get a chance to think about any of that.

It is easy to see how beautiful Napa is. What is not easy to see is the poverty in a wealthy place like this one. In my opinion, homelessness is a sign of a failed economy. Whether there are 10 or 10,000 homeless, I think we have failed if anyone looking for a safe place to sleep at night cannot get it.

I walk around a lot in Napa, which has made me see a lot of people out and about living their life constantly in motion.

Then STOP… I see white and black trash bags haphazardly piled on top of each other, a grotesque pile of junk with a shopping cart holding food, and old shoes with a blanket on top of it. Flies buzz around the mass. I am suddenly out of my element, questioning something like this is here on Lincoln Avenue next to the liquor store.

I take a closer look and see a man sitting against the fence, staring at the ground. I ask if he is OK. That’s when he looks up and says his name is Tony.

Tony assured me he was OK. I know he was not fine, but his smile tried to say otherwise. I introduced myself, we talked briefly, and I said goodbye and kept walking. As I walked away, I could not shake the image I saw before I met Tony and the idea that just a brief conversation could change the way I saw a person.

When I heard him talk, I did not hear the things that are said about the homeless: I did not hear of drug use. He did not proclaim that he chooses to live outside. He did not have a crazy ramble that made no sense, and he did not ask me for any money. All he did was treat me like a human being. He talked to me about his love for his family, where he grew up, and where he got his education. He also talked about his friends, what he does daily, and he wanted to hear the same from me.

From a pile of garbage to a person in the shadows — to now Tony, a man that lost his touch, but one I am not willing to just throw away.

Homelessness is a bigger issue than just the mere fact of just not having a place to live but what not having the proper living space can do to your life. Homelessness affects your mental health, your ability to make a living, sociability, the support you receive, and the way society sees you. And the crazy part is, no matter how far you have come, no matter how much wealth you have gained and how well looked at you are today, all of this could be taken away, and you could be the one someone mistakes for garbage.

Tony is just one of many that are homeless and seeing his smile made me feel pity and shame that living like this is normal in a place I live, the city of Napa.

I see signs, stickers, and hashtags as I walk around all over the city, with the slogan “Napa Strong”. I've also grown-up hearing leaders tell me “we are only as good as our weakest link.” Both are a lot harder to swallow once you think about Tony and the over 464 of his peers who are currently homeless. Would you say that is a sign of a “Strong” community and are they a part of the “Napa Strong” movement?

I cannot speak for the homeless population as I have not experienced it firsthand myself, but I can help the uninformed see them and put them in a better light. I am not sure what the solution is, but this must change.

We need to do better in acknowledging our communities’ shortcomings. We need to help the most vulnerable people in our communities even if they do not have a platform to ask for help. We need to care about others unconditionally. That shows the true character of our community, and that would truly make us the strong Napa we claim to be.

That’s a step in the right direction that would not only greatly benefit the homeless but this city. Would you be OK with the people you care about most being treated as we treat the homeless? Or let me put it simpler: would you want to be treated like Tony? Like the waste of the world?

My family and I moved to Napa during the pandemic, so that my wife could take a new job managing a Department at the Napa County District Attorney’s Office that specializes in assisting the victims and witnesses of crime. I work at Earn & Learn, an organization that assists young people in disenfranchised communities connect to careers through the implementation of job training and work-placed learning opportunities in high-growth and sustainable

industries. However, neither of us could do our jobs if we did not have quality childcare for our two young children.

We are already paying upwards of $1,000 per week to keep our two-year old daughter in a local daycare program. When our 7-year old son’s new school announced that they would be going 100% online, last September, we had absolutely no idea what we would do. With two working parents, the prospects of trying to work while at the same time caring for an active 7-year old seemed more than daunting. Every which way we conceived of trying to make it work seemed downright harmful to the health, sanity and sustainability of our family.

We had no idea what we were going to do. Being in a new community away from our families and support system in the middle of a pandemic was overwhelming to say the least. That is until my wife came upon the Boys and Girls Club of Napa. The arrangement literally too good to be true. They would take our son, Teo, 5 days a week with flexible drop off and pick up hours, while configuring their entire program and set up to balance enrichment activities with safety protocols. Their staff would facilitate and work around his individual virtual school schedule, and even provided food for him all day….all for $300 a month!

I remember telling my wife that if it was half as good as what they were advertising, we would be in pretty damn good shape. Well, I can now tell you, that it was even better than advertised. Not only did they do everything they said they would, but they also went above and beyond. Upon our request, the staff even coordinated things so that our son could do extra Zoom educational sessions with his grandpa a couple of days a week. I can only imagine what they have to juggle to make this all work with I don’t know how many varying school schedules for the kids in their care. And they do it with a smile and warmth.

Their entire staff is highly responsive and attentive, and has given us the confidence that our son is well cared for in these highly tumultuous times. I cannot overstate how Boys and Girls Club of Napa has been the rock of stability our family desperately needed. We literally don’t know where we would be if it were not for Boys and Girls Club of Napa. Knowing there is one thing we can count on in these crazy times is a god-send, and we would not know what we would do without these critical services and programs.

On an average Friday in July, 300 people loaded onto to buses at Meritage Resort in Napa and made their way to the Napa and American Canyon Clubhouses. They came in work shirts, they brought gloves, and hammers, and shovels and more importantly, a drive to make things better. Thank you PMG for the tremendous amount of landscaping, painting, and cleanup help!

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