Have you ever noticed that behind the excitement of back-to-school in September is a secret, collective sigh of relief from parents? We have, and it always entertains us because we totally get it! We love September because back-to-school means thousands of kids coming back to our 12 neighbourhood Clubs after school. While tons of them have been with us throughout the summer, we love how excited they are for the “new year”.
People ask me all the time, “Why do BGC’s Clubs matter? Isn’t it just a babysitting service?”
Let me tell you this: the average kid in Vancouver has 90 hours a week of discretionary time. While it’s no secret that as a society we worry about kids “going off track”, 60% of kids under 12 spend time alone and unsupervised in those 90 hours of unstructured time. Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?
To us, “going off track” is another way of saying that a kid’s amazingness is hard to see. We believe it’s not that a kid is by nature bad or trouble, it’s simply that past experiences or circumstances have changed how that kids shows up every day.
When a kid spends a good chunk of those 90 free hours a week at one of our 12 neighbourhood Clubs, they have success building enduring relationships and developing healthy habits all while having fun. That is the antidote for “going off track.”
When kids are seen and heard at BGC, the likelihood of gang and crime involvement, dropping out of school, substance use, and social isolation is dramatically reduced because virtually everything that kids need during the critical out-of-school hours happens at Boys and Girls Clubs.
We’re the 90 hours a week for thousands of kids – join us.
Hope you’re having a great start to your fall!
More soon,
Carolyn
Carolyn Tuckwell
President & CEO
ctuckwell@bgcbc.ca | 604-879-6554 | @CarolynBGC
