This Week at the Clubs

Team GKC traveled to St. Joseph on February 13 for another weightlifting meet at the Wesley Center. A special thank you to Board Member Jim Rose for helping provide new weightlifting shoes for the team! Look for results in the next issue of This Week.

On February 4, Sprint teamed up with the Boys & Girls Clubs for an Internet Safety event at the Wyandotte County Unit. The event focused on tips for safely navigating the internet and social media sites. This free forum for parents as well as children included presentations from the police department and a Facebook representative, among others. The Clubs appreciate the partnership with Sprint and BGCA for helping create this important and timely effort for the community.

Torch Club at the Hawthorne & Leslie Units recently hosted a sleepover for ages 9-12 at the Clubs, where workshops were conducted to work on social development skills and how to effectively communicate with peers. In addition, a cooking class was held - and, of course, pillow fights!

RBI Winter Workouts continue each Sunday from 3-5 p.m. at the Thornberry Unit through February 28. The youth work on baseball and softball skills to prepare for the 2010 season under the watchful eye of the RBI staff and coaches. In addition, the program has received some great press recently with winter workouts featured in a Kansas City Star article and player Ryan Lasneske featured in an article in the Kansas City Kansas Community College Advocate. Click on these links to read the Star and Advocate articles online.

Hawthorne & Leslie Club members are participating in cooking classes every Tuesday with Junior Academy and High School members. The members set the table, learn about calorie counting, interact with staff and other members, and just learn to make positive healthy eating meals and keep good eating habits.

Sunday, February 7 was another terrific outing for the WyCo Panther Boys & Girls Clubs wrestling team. Eight boys participated in the North Kansas City Novice Wrestling Tournament. Four won first place, including Dominick Jennings in 8 & Under, Tarez McNack and JaJuan Reed in 12 & Under, and Robert Hill in 14 & Under. Juan Owens placed second in his weight class for the 8 & Under age group. Special thanks to Mr. Jennings (Dominick's father) for helping coach matches. The final event of the season took place on February 14 at St. James High School in Lenexa. Look for results in the next issue.

On February 11, General Mills hosted a special Valentine's Day cookie decorating party with members at the East Side Unit. The volunteers brought in fresh-baked, heart-shaped cookies for the members to decorate - for themselves or to give to that special Valentine! We thank General Mills for their continued support and volunteerism in our East Side Unit.

In celebration of MLK Day in January, members of the Hawthorne & Leslie Units participated in a special carnival and peace march on Independence Square. Members started the day discussing facts and questions about Martin Luther King, Jr., followed by a carnival complete with face painting (peace signs) and music, and a peace march on the square. A trip to Ci-Ci's Pizza concluded the day. Special thanks to Scandinavian Place for the chocolate treats (see picture at very top)!

RBI held its first Player Registration Night on February 11 at the Thornberry Unit. The Registration Night was created to reduce workload on coaches so they could send over their players or an entire team at once to register for 2010. In addition, in celebration of Black History Month, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum has made 200 passes available to the RBI program for the first 200 registered participants to visit the Museum. Thanks to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for making this possible for our RBI youth!

Don't forget to use GoodSearch.com for your online searches and GoodShop.com for your online shopping to benefit the Clubs. Just enter "Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City" as the charity you want to support!