Announcements/Business:
- No Meeting next week, the club does not meet when there is a fifth Tuesday of the month.
- Angela: 87 people donated $6305 for the Peaches sales effort. We are immensely grateful to the good will of our community and Angela’s efforts to run the Peach sale this year. Evening meeting members will be writing Thank You cards to all who donated. They will meet 5:30PM next Wednesday in Angela’s front yard. We are very grateful for the extra effort from Amy and Ed as they helped Angela with the peaches effort.
- Wes: Next Foundation board meeting will be next Tuesday morning September 29th.
- Leonor: the Sigomere Girls fundraiser ends September 30th and $1142 of $1400 has been raised so far. This amazing effort is best described by Leonor’s Facebook fundraiser page:
“Imagine a world where you did not own any underwear. None. Now imagine having a period without feminine products and having to go to school. Horrible, right? We heard about this last year from the school principals we met in Sigomere, Kenya. The goal of this fundraiser is to change lives by supporting and educating young girls with a period positive, self-care focus.” - Carol: To underscore the need for donations to the Sigomere Girls fundraiser, Carol reported that the teen pregnancy rate is up 250% since COVID-19 stay-in-place orders were issued. Educating children about their bodies is so important, and the children are not learning it from their parents.
- Charlotte: 9Health Fair volunteers are still needed for the 9Health Fair at Platte Canyon High School October 17th. Sign up online at https://www.9healthfair.org/volunteer.
- Angela: Conifer Town Hall Meeting is September 23rd. You can view the recording of this meeting at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6Q8JM28tgc&feature=youtu.be
Program:
Amy Carman, CEO Boys and Girls Club of the High Rockies
COVID and Leadership during the Pandemic.
Amy Carman, CEO Boys and Girls Club of the High Rockies
COVID and Leadership during the Pandemic.
Amy Carman joined us to talk about the innovative leadership and flexibility that was used for the Boys and Girls Club to survive these past months. The Boys and Girls Club assists working families with school age children to deal with the need to have a safe place for their children when they are working. The club has after school, weekend, and summer programs for school children that are built around development opportunities for the children. Reading, hiking, sports, arts and crafts, character and team building, are only some of their areas of focus. Add in the challenges of protection and social distancing in this pandemic and the task seems daunting.
They did it. They were closed for a month and a half during the stay-at-home order but reopened in May. Meeting outdoors and mandatory masks enabled the staff to maintain a safe environment for all. Families coming to them had stories of their children having to wait in their parents’ vehicles in their workplace parking lot while they were working. Naturally, the students fell behind during the month and a half of remote learning.
The Boys and Girls Club answered the need by increasing their staff nearly double. For funding they applied for every possible COVID funding source. Life changed very quickly for them; flexibility was the key to success.
Demand for their services was overwhelming these past several months. Simple things like obtaining masks to fit a grade school child’s face, obtaining sufficient sunscreen, and teaching children how to wash their hands and to do it a lot, were not easy to resolve.
Amy was grateful for the numerous community partners that helped. Help from IMHS for puppy trips, Platte Canyon Resale Boutique to raise funds, local restaurant food donations for meals, and Department of Human Services and County Health, were just some of the partners.
The Boys and Girls Club of the High Rockies has 349 children registered in their programs. They daily average attendance is 55 children in Bailey and 35-40 in Fairplay.
For more information, contact Amy Carman at ceo@bgchr.co.
Guests:
Julie Mendelson, prospective new member; Amy Carman, program speaker; and Carol Carper, Sasa Harambee, Sigomere Kenya Rotary Program