Boys & Girls Clubs Holding Year-long Campaign for Youth

Feb 18, 2013 No Comments by

FRESNO – The Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County is currently running a year-long campaign that will help change the lives of the 6,000 youth it serves in its 17 clubs located in and around the Fresno area.

The 13 for $13 in 2013 program is searching for 1,300 people who are willing to donate $13 a month for every month in the 2013 calendar year.  Participants in the program will play a part in helping the clubs’ youth steer away from bad choices that might result in them becoming teenage mothers, gang members or feeling that life is hopeless and that they have no future.

The need is great.  Federal statistics indicate that the San Joaquin valley has the second highest poverty rate in the United States, higher even than Appalachia.  Beyond that, Fresno has the fourth highest concentration of gang members per capita in the country.  Nearly one third of the children born in Fresno County are to teenage mothers.  School statistics show that almost half of high school young people never graduate, and among Hispanic and African-American groups the number is even higher.  Young people who grow up in our urban areas, or in pockets of poverty around the county, face a life of increasing frustration, limited choices, and plenty of opportunities to turn to violence, drugs, and crime.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County stand against this epidemic that is destroying young lives.  Through its 17 clubs, open every day after school and into the evening, when kids are on the street and need something positive to do, they reach more than 6,000 young people every year with the opportunity to make different, positive choices.  The clubs are located all over Fresno and Clovis and throughout Fresno County, staffed by qualified professionals trained in relating to young people, and skilled in listening, mentoring, and helping to shape lives.  The Boys & Girls Clubs offer programs that encourage school graduation, develop leadership, promote community responsibility, and advocate healthy, life-giving choices.

“By supporting the Boys & Girls Clubs ‘13 For $13 in 2013’, you have an opportunity to increase your impact in changing a culture,” said Sandra Dee Chaney with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County.

Nearly everyone has the resources to spare $13 a month to help transform the lives of many of Fresno County’s at-risk youth, and the combined efforts of everyone in the campaign will raise more than $200,000 that will stay and help those in the community.  Signing up is easy.  You can make a monthly gift with your credit card, or create an automatic withdrawal from your bank account.  You can also mail a check monthly, and you will be given a monthly reminder.

For more information, call Sandra Dee Chaney at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Fresno County at (559) 266-3117 or visit http://www.bgclubfc.org/13for13.html 

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