Stand Up For Kids Auction and Dinner Dance 2011 

By Judy Jennings, Event Chair 

This year's Stand Up for Kids Auction was enjoyable for all who attended to support the Clubs in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara West,  Goleta, Lompoc and Camp Whittier.  Nearly 300 attendees enjoyed a hosted bar and hors d'oeuvres on the Rotunda of the Doubletree Resort while bidding on quality silent auction items until the sun set over the ocean.  The guests then descended into the beautifully decorated open air Plaza for dinner and festivities.

Marshall Sherrill was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by CEO Michael Rattray and Barbara Sherrill accepted on his behalf.  Emcee Eloy Ortega from The Bank of Santa Barbara introduced the keynote speaker, Angel Martinez, CEO of Deckers Outdoor Corporation, who spoke eloquently about his early life as an immigrant from Cuba and how his life was improved and his future shaped by his local Boys Club.  One of the youth members from the Goleta Club, Cesar Lizama, spoke about how the Boys & Girls Club has helped him through the years.  

News from Camp Whittier

Camp Whittier's Mission Statement:

• To provide a safe environment to learn & grow.
• To gain an appreciation of the natural world.
• To provide opportunities to contribute.
• To value humanity.

It is well documented that connecting our youth with the natural world is helping to battle childhood depression, obesity and attention disorders.

For Kids With ADHD, Regular 'Green Time' Is Linked to Milder Symptoms

ScienceDaily (Sep. 19, 2011) - A study of more than 400 children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has found a link between the children's routine play settings and the severity of their symptoms, researchers report. Those who regularly play in outdoor settings with lots of green (grass and trees, for example) have milder ADHD symptoms than those who play indoors or in built outdoor environments, the researchers found. The association holds even when the researchers controlled for income and other variables.

To read entire article please click on following link: 

Science Daily 

We would love to share our camp with your company, school group, church group and any other community organizations. For additional information please call Debi at 805-962-6776 or email us at  campwhittiersb@aol.com.

Carpinteria Clubhouse

Tackle Football

The Carpinteria Boys & Girls Club is well known for their competitive sports programs.  The biggest of them all would have to be Tackle football.  On average we have anywhere from 85 to 100 kids playing tackle football each year.  There are four different teams (Bantams, Junior 1, Junior 2, and Seniors) each team has about 20 kids on a team and about 6 coaches, who volunteer their time to help teach the kids the game of football the right way.  They play against teams from Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, Ojai, Vandenberg, and Nipomo.  We offer Tackle Football to anyone from the ages of 8-14 years of age but just because you fall in the age bracket doesn't mean you will get to play every down in every game. We have a strict Athletic Code that we have each kid sign before they can participate in tackle football. The code talks about how football is a privilege and they are student athletes, Student comes first! We do grade checks every week and it's not just passing or failing. We also take citizenship into account as well. We take pride in our name and want kids to represent us well.

Cheerleading 

What's football without cheerleading?  We offer an outstanding cheerleading program for girls in the 3rd through the 8th grade. Our award winning Indian Cheerleaders are recognized throughout the country for their dance talent, overall precision, difficult stunts and impressive routines.  This program offers girls a chance to develop a crowd-leading ability, cooperation, and dance technique.  They also cheer at Holiday events.  They get the best of the best coaching from the Carpinteria High School and learn the cheers you get to see Friday Nights during the Carpinteria Warrior Football Games.  This program is also under the Athletic Code of weekly grade checks and citizenship check up on each cheerleader. We have two squads of cheerleaders with fifteen girls on each squad.

Challenges: The Club members we see come through the Carpinteria Boys & Girls Club sometimes do not realize that they are responsible for their own actions. Often, staff will hear excuses: "It is not my fault," or "He/she started it." As a staff, we are always looking for a way for Club members to learn from their mistakes while giving positive reinforcement.

Response: Since the Boys & Girls Clubs of America follows the guideline, "the Positive Place for Kids," we here at the Carpinteria Boys & Girls looked for a way to develop a moral compass for our Club members. Good Choices is a program with an emphasis on building better families by improving kids' lives. The program is intended to build character by delivering "precepts," - in essence, morals or lessons for kids to live by. We hold these sessions every Friday at 2:30 P.M. during the school year and 2-3 times a week during the summer.

There are over 21 precepts for Club members to learn from. The program gives the kids responsibility for their own actions - is it a happy or a sad choice? A booklet and DVD accompanies the program. It is very easy to read and directed for kids ages 6-16.

Discussions range from telling the truth to how to deal with bullies and cussing to helping your friends and families. It is very encouraging to hear Club members open up about what their experiences are and how they feel about the subject at hand.

Staff does not force anything upon Club members. Essentially, we are letting the kids make their own choices. By asking them if it is a happy or sad choice, we are letting the kids decide what works for their group of peers. On average, we have 10 kids every Friday to discuss these choices.

Benefits: Club members that actively participate every Friday show improved attitudes and enthusiasm. They will end up asking their peers if what they are doing is a good or a bad choice. Club members show a positive attitude that carries over to their home life as well.

Evaluation: The Carpinteria Boys & Girls Club will continue to use this program to help Club members develop a greater sense of self while developing a moral compass for them to live by. We are hoping to acquire more funds so that we can give active Club member's incentives such as food and plaques for their good behavior and continuous participation.

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Goleta Clubhouse

While the Club provides and supports many academic programs, it understands that there are other dimensions in life in making a successful member of our community. Our youth are regularly faced with many difficult choices in life. The decisions they make when faced with these choices can have major ramifications in their lives and within the lives of others in our community.

To help the Club's youth in these non-academic areas, this past summer the Club implemented a variety of weekly themes. These themes focused on areas such as leadership, nutrition, violence, bullying and recycling and were tailored to meet the different age groups that the Club serves. The weekly themes were chosen based on issues that have a direct impact on the lives of our Club members.  

It is very rewarding to see our members not only be exposed to each lesson, but to actually gain direction that changes the way they act and behave towards their peers and adults they come into contact with.  

With the summer now behind us, we look forward to one of our busiest and most exciting school years ever that will be filled with fun high yield learning activities.

Lompoc Clubhouse

Learning Care Center

Recent volunteer recruitment efforts have paid off big time in Lompoc! Using the newly established volunteer recruitment partnership program from Santa Barbara County Education Offices to recruit, screen, train, and track our volunteers has given the club a second "staff" to draw from and our programs are thriving! The United Boys & Girls Club of Lompoc hosts the intake program, staffing a full time volunteer recruiter, Rachel Wolpo, at the site. For the month of September alone more than 20 new volunteers have registered for service at LBGC, and the month isn't over yet!  This is an amazing testament to the level of commitment and support the Lompoc and Vandenberg communities provide.

"The Learning Care Center activities, classes and crafts encompass programming for members ages 5-18.  The staff and our committed team of volunteers come prepared to assist approximately 85-100 members each day with homework, crafts, games, reading and life skills.  This would be next to impossible without the diligence of our wonderful volunteers.  We are truly thankful."

Sincerely,

Rita Horton, Learning Care Center Director

The Lompoc A.S.E.S. Programs

The Lompoc A.S.E.S. Programs celebrated "Worldwide Fun Day" on September, 23rd 2011 with a shoe relay and other carnival style fun and games.  The festivities were mirrored at all four school sites in Lompoc.  The A.S.E.S. (After School Education and Safety) program is currently available to children enrolled at Hapgood, Clarence Ruth, Fillmore, and Lompoc Valley Middle School. LaRonda Lewis, A.S.E.S. Project Director, clarifies the scope of the program.  "A.S.E.S. is not a babysitting service, but an actual extension of the school day.  Your child will have access to homework help and scholastic activities in a fun learning environment.  When you see your child you are seeing the faces of A.S.E.S." The A.S.E.S. program is available free of charge to children enrolled in participating schools in Lompoc.

Santa Barbara Westside Club

The Santa Barbara West Boys & Girls Club is growing. We have 356 new members since summer. Parent support is at its highest, from helping serve snacks to cleaning up the kitchen. Serving as a community facility we are proud to host a Support Group for Parents, Zumba fitness and on October 19th we will be hosting a Thrive Westside informational meeting in Spanish from 7:00 pm - 8pm. Our club participated in Day of Caring on September 17th to help beautify the adjacent Bohnett Park and our playground.

A lot of improvements are happening at Santa Barbara West Boys & Girls Club .We are very thankful for the generous grant from Rabobank for the upgrade of our playground area, we will soon have new high grade wood chips and privacy for our youth. We will also be resurfacing our Gym Floors thanks to a grant from the LA84 Foundation. The outdoor basketball area will soon have new backboards and hoops and the pavement will be repaved and painted Lakers colors thanks to the La Cumbre Foundation. We look forward to all of these major improvements to add to our New Music Box & Teen Center.

Santa Barbara West has implemented numerous academic programs on site this year to fill the achievement gap. For reading we have a very effective program called Reading Plus that increases the children's reading level through a fun and interactive computer program. We will soon be opening a Waterford Lab for helping with the early stages of reading which is used primarily with our younger members, but also is a wonderful resource for our English Language Learners (ELL). We have Power Hour scheduled every day. This is a mandatory homework group where children receive differentiated instruction based on age, grade and current academic level. This way we make sure that all students are receiving the most appropriate support and increasing not only their grades in school but also their self-esteem and pride in their education.  We count on the support of volunteers and encourage you to help us or refer a friend.  We have Cal-SOAP scheduled to start providing tutoring for our teens four days per week. They will be assisting in higher level tutoring and providing hands on academic activities to ensure that our academic support is of high yield to our teens.

Calendar of Events

(4th Quarter - October through December)

-October 25, 2011:  Boys and Girls Club's of America - 2011 Youth of the Year Kick-Off

-October 29 & October 30, 2011:  United Boys and Girls Club's Concourse D'Elegance

-November 12, 2011:  United Boys and Girls Club's Alan Parsons Live Project

-November 17, 2011:  Lompoc Club's Community Breakfast

-November 24 & November 25, 2011:  Clubs Closed - Thanksgiving Day Holiday

-December 8, 2011:  Lompoc Annual Holiday Chamber Mixer 

-December 26, 2011:  Clubs Closed - Christmas Holiday