" We ’ ve experienced the struggle with kids and phones firsthand , but one of the things that ’ s going to sound interesting to you is that we don ’ t run away from it ."
with it . That is like the ultimate , to witness someone do that and know that you had a hand in creating that environment for them to discover that .”
Your organization is really great at helping kids find their gifts , whether it ’ s sports , science , reading , physical activity , and now technology . Technology is constantly changing . What ’ s been the biggest game changer for your clubs for over the past few years for technology ?
“ All of our clubs , every one of them , have just gotten stateof-the-art computer labs . Back in the day , they used to be strictly computer labs . Now they ’ re more like STEM centers . They have their computers , they have their technology , but they also have a lot of , almost like woodshop tables , you know ? A lot of tables where kids can build and create .”
“ We have a very cool robotics program that we ’ re working on right now . We ’ ve experienced the struggle with kids and phones firsthand , but one of the things that ’ s going to sound interesting to you is that we don ’ t run away from it . We know that it ’ s part of the culture , so we build within it . We do TikTok with the kids and we do things with their phones and we do let them have that social time . For us , it ’ s really a positive , because the more we give options to kids , the more we present different things to children , the more opportunities they have to discover new things .”
Keeping kids safe during COVID is one thing , and it seems like you ’ re doing an amazing job . But the biggest challenge , I ’ m sure , is making the parents feel safe , right ?
“ In the midst of it , many parents have needed to get out there to help our economy . I remember when COVID first hit . All we had at our clubhouse were the children of nurses and doctors that were working 13 to 14 hour shifts . We knew we needed to help parents get back out into the workforce to at least get our economy moving or get our critical services going , so they ’ re not staying at home because they don ’ t have adequate childcare . I still remember our first essential services camp exclusive to parents who were firefighters , nurses , doctors , people in the oil industry , gas attendants , supermarket workers .”
I ’ m sure those nurses , doctors , and firefighters were very grateful that you were there to take care of their children and provide a safe place for them so they could continue to do their amazing work .
What ’ s the best way someone can help support you in moving forward in 2022 ? How can people help ?
“ Kids were off school for a year and a half and using virtual platforms that sometimes didn ’ t resonate or allow them to fully benefit . We ’ re now seeing the repercussions of that . We ’ re seeing kids , let ’ s say in fifth grade , doing third-grade work . They just don ’ t understand the concepts . We work with all the children , but one of the things that we ’ re not great at , and one of the things that we ’ re trying to be better at , is individualized attention . We ’ ll have a classroom of 20 – 25 kids doing a lot of different things , but if a child needs help at learning how to read , we just don ’ t have the capacity to do that . To help that child , we need help through professional and volunteer educational support .”
“ Another need that ’ s emerged from the pandemic is for social work and behavioral therapy . We need people who know how to — or who can help a counselor — work with children ’ s behavioral issues . There are some kids that are learning again how to re-engage with the community . There are kids that have been shut out for over a year and a half , and they come in and they ’ re overwhelmed . Finding that expertise by teaming up with another organization would be a tremendous support for us .”
“ The last thing is that we work with over a thousand kids , and for us , just the basic school supplies like books , pencils , rulers , etc ., are a year-round need . If we can engage support to stock up on these materials that would be helpful , because we go through them very quickly .”
Visit theclubs . org to learn more .