This portion of New Day Northwest is
sponsored by boys and Girls Club of America.
Hi my name is Marcus Williams and I grew
up at the Rotary Boys and Girls Club
on 19th and yesterday in Seattle, WA.
This is where it started.
I took this everywhere,
traveled practiced in it to be
able to live out of my dreams.
Is playing professional basketball.
This just means everything to me.
I definitely would not have had the
opportunity if it wasn't for the
platform that they were able to provide.
Someone gave me that same opportunity
so it's always pay it forward because
there's another 4th grader out
there just like me who started from
scratch and looking for a kind of
a North star and and hopefully the
club can be that for him as well.
Well,
did you know that NBA player,
former NBA player Marcus Williams got his
start at the boys and Girls Club as of
countless others including yours truly.
Yep, I had a single mom who
worked long after school ended.
So thanks to the boys and Girls Club,
I had a place to go after school.
You know, I think about that a lot
as we mark giving Tuesday because so
often the only way a parent can send
their kid to the boys and Girls Club is
because of the generosity of others.
I spoke with staff member Trey Beauchamp
about the club's impact on his life.
In his work shaping the leaders of tomorrow.
Do
you work with the teens at the boys and
Girls Club in Wallingford where you
actually went as a young person as well?
So tell us about your experience
and how it helped shape you.
Well, so I started at the boys and Girls
Club when I was in elementary school,
probably about third grade and continued
all the way through middle school.
So some of my like that kind of like
definitive years as a young person
was here at the boys and Girls Club.
You know I have memories of spending
nights here with counselors and one
life lessons always kind of things.
And so I've just been happy to
be able to pass that along.
And I take a lot of those things
I've learned from, you know,
my previous counselors.
So I now get to work with.
I like to bring that to young
people as well too.
So it's just been an amazing journey
to be able to teach young people
about their lives and how to.
You know, become members of society today.
It makes my heart happy.
I remember my boys and Girls Club.
It was like my mom, a single mom.
She's working late, but this was
my other family here and there is
that sense of the family, right?
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly it.
You know that was the same thing for me and
I came to the Golf Club as much as I could.
Every summer I'd ask my mom to come,
and so I've just wanted to make that same
experience happen for young people now.
So tell me about some of the
activities you have for teens and why
it's important for teens to have a
place like the boys and Girls Club.
Yeah, you know, we talked about raising
a kid is never just a one person job.
It's not even a two person job.
It takes a family.
It takes a community and so
that's what we try and offer
here at the boys and Girls Club.
So we won't really want to fill in.
Whatever we can do for that kid,
whatever service we can provide,
and for some kids I might just
be a place to come do homework,
and for others it's going to be a
leadership program like Keystone
where we're offering, you know,
community service opportunities,
chances to go out into the community
and learn from other people.
Or it might be something like
eastwards where we're just going
to play some video games and have
a tournament with other kids.
And it's going to be a lot of fun too.
So we just kind of offer whatever we can.
That's going to be impactful
to these young people and have
a difference in their lives.
Tell me more about this keystone.
I've never heard of it.
Yeah,
so keep some news and national
woes and go program that's run.
Basically everyone goes up across
the country and it is a program
specifically for high schoolers
to do community service and it
focuses on community service fund.
Honestly,
'cause that's a big part of being a kid
to career readiness and college prep.
So we taught work the kids through
all those kind of things and bringing
them to you know or like I was saying
before I dedicated member of society.
That's really important.
I mean in that college prep too.
That's gotta be really key because
I know for me and my family.
I was first generation college and so I
don't even know what to expect. Yeah,
yeah. And so we end up having
to do a lot of college tours.
A lot of facts of crap alot.
Just kind of college essay writing
an offer all these things to our
kids so that they can have the best
fighting chance that they can when
it's time to go to school and kind
of leave the boys and Girls Club
and work through it.
I mean is this the applications in itself?
I remember being really confusing.
Yes on this givingtuesday why?
What would your pitch beta
people to consider donating
to the boys and Girls Club?
You know we provide care from pre K all the
way through high school and we're here.
It's a really offer whatever we can
to give these teams and these kind of
donations can really help increase our
scholarships that we're able to offer.
And you know, are we?
Do we do charge families?
But it's only a small portion of
what it takes to keep these clubs
open and running and so much of that
also comes from these donations and
that's why tables are most of our
team programs to be very low cost
or even free for the most part.
So these donations really are important
to keep in our doors open and serving.
As many kids as we can, but then,
even if a family can't pay that full amount,
you know scholarship is going to help
him attend the club at a lower cost.
And yeah,
these donations will totally go to that
and keeping your doors open is
important to our society as a whole.
The great work, the boys and
Girls Club has done for years.
Thank you so much Trey for
your time. Absolutely thank you so much.
So if you'd like to help the boys
and Girls Club this givingtuesday,
just head to the website you see on your
screen and if you act now, get this.
Your donation will be doubled.
A generous group of donors is matching
gifts now through December 31st.
That's most bang for your buck right there.