By BECKY TERRY
Guest Columnist
Over the past 67 years, the Boys & Girls Club of Noblesville has grown to become a staple of the community as a resource for youth and families of all backgrounds. It’s hard to fathom that it has been 11 weeks since our Club was filled with the sights and sounds of hundreds of kids playing on our playground, doing homework in our learning center or volunteering in community projects. Today, we welcome back all those same familiar sights and sounds.
This week, one of most popular summer programs resumed at Camp Crosser, and Club Daybreak and our Youth Volleyball League will resume, next week. The past few weeks have been filled with dozens of meetings with staff and local health experts to ensure that our new protocols and procedures would ensure the safety of everyone. Our top priority has been and always will be the safety of our 2,300+ youth members and staff.
This “new normal” will definitely make our programs look a little different, but many things remain the same. Social distancing may change the way activities look, but members will still be able to run off some energy in the gym or let their creativity shine in the art room. And most importantly, members will still be greeted with a smile by our trained, caring youth professionals.
None of this would be possible without the support of our faithful donor base and funders. We would like to thank the Crosser Family Foundation for providing general operating support through their relief grant, the Hamilton County Community Foundation for their grant from their Crisis Response Fund to support staffing costs and technology equipment for our Virtual Clubhouse, the City of Noblesville’s Small Business Resiliency Grant which helped us fund a portion of fixed expenses, the United Way of Central Indiana’s COVID-19 Technology Fund that helped purchase technology equipment for our part-time staff facilitating virtual programs remotely as well as their Community Economic Relief Fund which provided a grant to sustain operations and provide services that support Club members and families who are affected by the economic impacts related to the COVID-19 crisis.
These champions for local youth are truly the pillars of our organization, and for that we are forever grateful. Thanks to their continued support, our donors and funders are ensuring that we’re able to provide hope and opportunity to our community’s most vulnerable citizens; making a difference now and for years to come.
We know that we’re not completely out of the woods yet, and we must remain diligent in our new policies and protocols to ensure safety while providing a peace of mind to our Club families. We will once again provide the same inclusive environment that promotes and celebrates our diverse group of members and staff. We will continue to advocate for all youth to have the same opportunities while encouraging them to harness the power of their voice. Our doors are finally re-opened to the youth we have missed so much.
Becky Terry is the Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Noblesville.