THANKUARY EDITION
YOUR CLUBS
Stories about the kids and families you have helped
Determined to succeed
The Club helped him overcome a host of barriers Failure was never an option for Samuel Noyola. Even when faced with daunting obstacles – not knowing the English language, growing up without a lot of money and lacking the resources for education – he persevered. Fortunately, Samuel found a place that helped him succeed at every step: his Boys & Girls Club in Cleveland. Because of it, Samuel, 28, who was raised in Puerto Rico by parents who migrated from the Dominican Republic, is now a college graduate and thriving financial planner who is fluent in English. “If it weren’t for the Club, I probably wouldn’t have graduated from high school,” Samuel says. “There are relationships I am going to remember for the rest of my life. (The Club) is a family.” Samuel’s determination comes from the knowledge that his parents sacrificed so much when they moved the family from Puerto Rico to New York and then to Cleveland. When he arrived here, he was a teen who did not know English and worked odd jobs to help pay the bills. He knew it would take a lot of work just to graduate from high
school. College was a dream. One day he was walking home from Lincoln West High School and noticed a bunch of kids huddled around a building, talking about getting food. It was the former West Side Boys & Girls Club. “I thought, ‘There’s a gym, there is pool (billiards), there is free food. All right,’” he says with a laugh. He joined. Club Director Sandra Del Valle, now a BGCNEO Regional Area Director, helped Samuel learn English. Others provided homework assistance and guidance on finding college scholarships. And the Club had a baseball field that spoke to his family’s Dominican roots. The extra help paid off. Samuel ultimately mastered English, graduated from high school and played infield on three Senate championship baseball teams, serving as captain his senior year. “I understood things weren’t going to be easy, but I learned from the Club,” he says.
SEE SAMUEL, PAGE 2
Generosity creates a party atmosphere Club members across Northeast Ohio attended holiday parties, complete with gifts, food and games, thanks to the generosity of a host of corporations, organizations and individuals. Donations from the community funded the parties, which are eagerly anticipated by Club kids. “This is like the best, it is so much fun,” said a Washington Elementary Club member. Each Club had a slightly different twist on the festivities. At the Stevan Dohanos Club, kids got their party started with playful ‘pies’ to the faces of staff members. At several Clubs, parents provided additional food and drinks. Each of the approximately 2,200 attendees received a gift. We are grateful to those whose donations made these parties possible: AoN; Avon Lake Key Club; Bernie & Nancy Karr; Brand Castle; BGCNEO Bridge Board; Cleveland Clinic; CrossCountry Mortgage; Dick’s Sporting Goods; Equity Trust; Emerson Group (Cleveland/ Cincinnati); Hudson High School; Browns linebacker Jacob Phillips; Lorain Elks; Browns cornerback Martin Emerson Jr.; Menards; New Balance; Outline Ohio; Pepsi; Regency Construction Services; Sgt. Clean Car Wash, Westlake and Strongsville; and Target.
SamueL (FROM PAGE 1) Samuel went on to get accounting degrees from Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland State University while working full-time. He started a painting business, going door to door to find work. “I still drive through Lakewood and see some of the things we painted,” he says. One of his college internships was with a financial planner. “I listened and I learned,” Samuel says. “I realized that if someone had sat down with my family and explained all their (financial) options, they would be in a much better position today.” The experience prompted him to start his own financial planning firm, one that is growing. Last year, he had 102 new clients, a record for planners working with broker Northwestern Mutual. He works in a beautiful office on the East Bank of Cleveland’s Flats but is always cognizant of the sacrifices made by his family and the help he received from friends along the way. “Everything is possible,” he says, “if you put a purpose behind it.”
Volunteers return in force, make a difference Like other nonprofits, Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio put the brakes on volunteering during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even when the threat eased, we kept many restrictions on visitors. In 2023, our volunteer program fully reopened. Volunteers responded in record numbers. More than 475 people volunteered with the Club, doing everything from weeding flower beds to helping with homework to signing up runners at the Race for Kids. All told, they donated more than 2,100 hours to BGCNEO activities and the kids that count on our Clubs as safe, fun places. We thank all those who volunteered their time in 2023, with a special shoutout to the following groups: Pulte Homes, GFS, Cleveland Clinic, Integrated Retirement Plan Solutions, Panera, KPMG, BGCNEO Bridge Board, Parker Hannifin, CWRU’s Phi Mu fraternity, The Mission Continues, Amazon, Brookfield Properties Development, Reliability First, University Hospitals Ventures, Capgemini North America, Sawmill Creek Resort, Drips, MRI Software, HowMet Aerospace, CWRU’s Alpha Chi Omega sorority, Fitness Machine Technicians, BGCNEO Regional Board of Advisors and BGCNEO Board of Directors.
PRO ATHLETES SHOW SUPPORT In 2023, a host of Cleveland professional athletes stepped up to help our kids. Thank you! Cleveland Guardians pitcher Triston McKenzie was again the official ambassador for our Race for Kids, and the team invited us to speak at Guards Fest. The Cavs Tristan Thompson helped Cleveland-Cliffs deliver two new vehicles to our Clubs and teammate Darius Garland spoke to kids at a Bigger than Basketball event. In addition, Cleveland Browns cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. hosted a Thanksgiving feast for our kids and took another group holiday shopping at Dick’s Sporting Goods. Browns receiver Elijah Moore bowled with some of our Club kids, while teammate Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah talked to teens about healthy eating and lifestyles.
Donors like you help kids learn, grow “My daughter has really blossomed. She is making friends...her homework is completed, and she is more eager to learn.”
-Club Parent
Academic success is one of our pillars. Supporters like you make it possible for Club members to receive thousands of hours of homework help and one-on-one tutoring from mentors. We thank you for helping Club kids improve their performance at school. Power Hour is typically the first Club activity of the day and serves as a transition between school and other BGCNEO programs. Kids get homework help and tutoring. The Ready Readers Plus program helps underperforming K-3 pupils and fosters the practice of reading within families. And Summer Brain Gain is a month of activities geared toward preventing summer learning loss. In addition, your support allows us to operate federal 21st Century Learning Centers at 14 locations across the region. According to independent evaluations, kids taking part in this program during the 2022-2023 school year made significant improvements in their reading and math scores. At Sandusky’s Regional Center for Arts & Academic Studies, 91% of the participating Club members demonstrated growth in reading during the school year and 82% moved from “not proficient” to “proficient” or above. In Lorain, kindergarten pupils at Vincent Club made impressive strides: Every one of them finished the school year on track for reading despite only 58% of them being proficient at the start of the year. In the Club evaluations, parents were almost universally supportive of the program. “My daughter has really blossomed,” one parent wrote in the evaluation survey. “She is making friends, she’s excited to interact with others! Her homework is completed, and she is more eager to learn.” Another parent said, “(My daughter) finishes her homework, still learns while having fun! She looks forward to going every day and hates to have to miss school because she’ll miss Club.”
EVENTS Our annual Blue Jeans for Blue Doors event raised more than $41,000 for operating our Erie County Clubs. The event, held at Sawmill Creek Resort in Huron, featured food, an auction and a stirring speech by BGCNEO and Ohio Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year Samarion Newell.
Cleveland Browns cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. hosted a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for members of the King Kennedy Club and East Tech Teen Center. Joining him at King Kennedy was his father, Martin Emerson, and teammates Greg Newsome, D’Antonio Bell, James Proche, Rodney McLeod and Cameron Mitchell. Our kids had a blast.
Kids in our Opening Track music program performed at a holiday showcase at the Broadway Club in Cleveland. Opening Track is supported by grants from the J.M. Smucker Co., the Callahan Foundation, Ohio Arts Council and the Kaulig Foundation.
Our career readiness team held a series of Teen Appreciation Socials, events in which members could have fun and discover potential career paths through a new BGCNEO certificate program. Events were held at the Broadway Club, Elyria South Club and Sandusky Teen Center. At each event, there was a raffle for a Nintendo Switch.
We were honored to be one of the beneficiaries of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Wine & Gold Gala at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The event, which supports programs and nonprofits that invest in Northeast Ohio youth, raised $1 million for the Cavaliers Community Foundation.
HIGHLIGHTS In October, we opened our first Club in Ashtabula County in conjunction with the Ashtabula Area School District. The Club at Huron Primary School in Ashtabula serves youth in grades three through 12. We now have 49 Clubs in six Northeast Ohio counties.
The Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Foundation donated two vehicles to BGCNEO -- one for transporting kids, the other to deliver food. Making the delivery day even more fun for the kids at our Broadway Club were appearances by Tristan Thompson of the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Cavs Scream Team. The kids received co-branded beanie caps and frozen treats.
NASA Glenn Research Center and COSI employees treated 42 members of our Ely Elementary Club in Elyria to an afternoon of science, propulsion and clouds. Kids enjoyed a demonstration of cloud-making and made handheld jet engines and straw paper airplanes. In addition, each kid received a Learning Lunchbox take-home STEM kit from COSI.
Our friends at adidas and XHIBITION funded updates at our Franklin D. Roosevelt Club and East Tech Teen Center, gave kids branded apparel and threw back-to-school parties at both locations. Activities ranged from a hula hoop competition to face painting.
WHY I BELONG “I belong to the Boys & Girls Club because I have the same interests as some of the kids here. The kids here are relatable and they are nice. We have fun.” Peyton, 11 Broadway Club member
WHY I GIVE From my first experience with BGCNEO at the 2019 Aspire! gala, I knew that I wanted to do more and play a bigger role with the organization. By that time, I had already raised my own four children and was nearing the end of a second career in education having originally started work in the corporate world. At the time I had just started thinking about life after work and how I could give back to my community and that night at Aspire!, it all sort of fell into place…BGCNEO’s focus on academic achievement, healthy lifestyles and character development was exactly what I wanted to support. Since 2020 I have been part of the Summit County Regional Board of Advisors and am beyond excited to now be able to be back in the Clubs in person! Mary A. Fry, Hudson
WHY I VOLUNTEER I volunteer in the spirit of the Woody Hayes quote: “We can never pay it back, so we must always pay it forward.” I was fortunate to benefit from the selfless service of many coaches, teachers and others I’m not even aware of growing up, and I am excited and grateful for the opportunity to pay those actions forward and invest in our next generation of leaders that will shape our communities. Matt Pekarek, Hudson
NON PROFIT U.S. Postage PAID Cleveland OH Permit No. 3046
6114 Broadway Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44127
Did you KNow?
• In a Harris Interactive survey, 54% of Boys & Girls Club alumni said the Club “saved my life” • On an average day, about 2,200 Northeast Ohio kids spend their afterschool hours in our Clubs. • Ninety-eight percent of our high school-age members expect to graduate on time.
To donate to BGCNEO, scan this code. Thank you! Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio 6114 Broadway Avenue Cleveland, Ohio 44127 (216) 883-2106 www.bgcneo.org
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