www.the-papers.com
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Serving Elkhart County and parts of Noble, LaGrange & Marshall Counties
Know Your Neighbor. . . . . 2➤ Speak Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Good Neighbors . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Vol. 49 No. 29
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Goshen (574) 534-2591
134 S. Main, Goshen, Indiana 46526
Club s l of Gir Go & sh s y en Bo ,
The Boys & Girls Club of Goshen is a safe, fun n and educational placee for children to come during the day, after school and on breaks. The club accepts students in the area from first rs in grade through seniors ate in the high school to participate ams offered. large variety of programs Director of Education and Unit Director Natalie Williams has been with the club ieves it is driven for five years and believes ach their full potential. by helping students reach “Our goals are to provide our kids opportunities that p in character and leadership. To will help them develop mic reinforcement, to have fun, posihelp them with academic tive social interaction, caring adult relationships and having a safe place to be after school,” Williams said. The club offers programs such as Workforce Readiness, career exploration activities, teen internship program, Lego robotics, art programs, music programs, tutoring opportunities, athletic programs and social recreational programs. “There’s a lot crammed into a $30 a year membership fee for the Boys and Girls Club,” Director of Public Relations and Marketing Jim Pinkerton shared. He said the club prides itself on keeping the students they work with on track. “One of the things that we kind of pride ourselves in is that when they leave here I think it’s 95% of our kids are on track to graduate. That’s because of the programs that they are experiencing here at the club,” Pinkerton explained. Not only does the club want to help the students grow and remain on track, but also wants to be the highest quality program it can be. “We want to make sure that we are offering a very quality, high level engaging program,” Williams shared. The programs offered are not limited to school based programs, but are also on life lessons. Williams stated, “They get to learn about healthy relationships and boundaries and families and saying no to drugs and alcohol and all of those things that are really important too.” One of the many ways they help teach students these
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for all lessons as well as teach them about the different career paths available to them is through guest speakers. “Pre-COVID we did a lot of guest speakers through partnerships with Ivy Tech and other community partners that we would invite in. We are starting to slowly have some guest speakers come back again,” Williams said. With all the club offers the funding has to come from somewhere. Pinkerton shared it comes from the many local partnerships the club has. “We are a nonprofit organization and it costs a lot more than $30 to provide the type of programming that we offer the kids so we partner with tons of businesses in our community,” he said. In addition they are partnered with Goshen schools and local churches, as well as receive grants to fund the programs. “We want it to be accessible to anyone who wants to be a part of the program,” Pinkerton shared. Not only does the club want to be accessible, but they are also willing to be there for anyone who wants to join. “It’s a safe place, but it’s so much more than that. There is something for everyone and we are here for anyone and everyone,” Williams said. Coming up is the Lights on After School event that will be at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28. For more information go to www.greatfutures.club.
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