Communal IMPACT of Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay

Looking back, it is easy to understand why Tristan Schuh made the following statement: “The Boys & Girls Club gave me the desire to become a better person.”

But how did Tristan, a Club member for eight years, come to such a realization? Aside from his personal drive and desire, the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay provided Tristan the tools and opportunities to create his own mark in the community.

As a result, Tristan became president of the teen leadership Keystone Club and, in 2004, was awarded the Club’s top honor as its Youth of the Year.

Today, Tristan is 19 years old and attends UW-Marinette, where he is an active member of the school’s theater department.

Like Tristan, the mission of the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay has remained the same for more than 40 years: to enable all young people, especially those who need it the most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.

Membership to the Club is available to children 6-18 years old. Two Clubhouses and eight After School program extension sites located in Green Bay’s low-income neighborhoods deliver programs daily.

Recognizing developmental principles, the Club offers program activities in five core areas: Character & Leadership Development; Education & Career Development; Health & Life Skills; Sports, Fitness & Recreation; and The Arts--in addition to providing diverse activities that meet the interests and needs of all young people.

The Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay places an emphasis on the relationship building that takes place with each child that enters the Club.

Currently, the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay is focusing on its Project IMPACT (I’m Part of A Community Team). Behind this youth-driven initiative, Club teens address local poverty and homelessness issues in a variety of ways: preparing and serving meals, collecting coats and other apparel to be distributed to Club members and their families who currently live in homeless shelters and organizing fund raisers for disaster relief efforts. In addition to Project IMPACT, the Club offers dozens of other programs for improving the community and its members.

The Keystone Club, a teen leadership and service group, organizes annual clothing drives to distribute needed clothing to over 400 children each year. The Seal-A-Smile campaign was a program, using volunteer dental students, to put sealants on the teeth of dozens of Club members throughout the year. This past year, more than 600 of our community’s youth took the “I Can Achieve Pledge”; a pledge from Club members to do their best at the Lights On After School event that kicked off in 2005.

The need for the Boys & Girls Club, however, is greater than ever as membership continues to grow. From 2001 to 2005, membership increased from 4,094 members to an all-time high of 7,512. During this time, two Green Bay Clubhouses underwent renovations that doubled their capacity to adequately serve the community’s youth. Though costs for the building expansion were paid by a $6 million capital campaign raised through donations from the local community, the Boys & Girls Club must still raise $2 million annually to meet ongoing operating expenses. Even with resources strained to the limit, the Boys & Girls Club has been recognized for national program excellence awards three years running—evidence that the organization is successfully reaching the youth who have the greatest needs.

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