If you opened this because you were hoping to hear about US college basketball, I hope you’re not so disappointed that you don’t read on! At Boys and Girls Clubs, March brings a whole different kind of madness – full days with our Clubs full of kids – hundreds in fact, on school spring break! And, just like the other March Madness is for some, it’s what we at BGC live for, because, as you know, we think every kid is amazing! You might even want to hear some evidence of that, so here you go!
February 26th was the 7th annual CKNW Orphans’ Fund Pink Shirt Day presented by Coast Capital, and the way our kids showed up was inspiring. On that morning, nearly 100 of our BGC kids and youth arrived enthusiastically (ok, a few were a bit groggy) at their Clubs around 6:00am with the songs they’d written and dance moves they’d practiced, all charged up to raise their voices against bullying. The most amazing part is that when you talked with them, even the shy ones said that they believe that they can help to put an end to bullying. Impossible you say, because it’s too big a problem? Kids played major roles in the campaigns against littering and smoking, and that was because of the purity with which they identify right from wrong, and their ability to forgive each other when they make mistakes. Further to this point, we had dozens of entries in a contest asking for stories that demonstrated how they were Champions Against Bullying, and most referenced the fact that after they had the chance to talk things through, they forgave their bully. The amazingness in kids that BGC sees every day, just like these examples, reminds us that we have MANY reasons to be optimistic about the future, and MANY of them come in small (‘ish) packages worth seeing and hearing!
It’s also a great reminder of how important it is for us to invest in kids, and to make space and opportunities for them to do the things they are meant to get to do as kids, which is what Boys and Girls Clubs is all about. And that brings me to our Amazing Kids Campaign! Less than two weeks ago, we reached out to you to ask you to help us to spread the word about BGC! For every time you sent an eCard, our good friend Peter W. Webster committed to donate $50 to BGC to help us to reach our goal of finding 600 new friends/contacts. I’m thrilled to report that it’s apparently not just our kids that are amazing! Turns out, so are our friends like you! To date, 721 eCards have been sent, and another 538 times people forwarded the Amazing Kids Campaign launch message! That’s a lot of clicks and a lot of new contacts! We’re excited to see how much farther we can reach! Please click here to send more eCards and help us go further, and stay tuned for updates on our progress!
Carolyn Tuckwell
President & CEO
ctuckwell@bgcbc.ca | 604-879-6554 | @CarolynBGC