Boys and girls club help kids get away

volunteers help in major roles

By: Luke Landgraf

Words:838

(story 7)

The Boys and Girls Club is a place in Bemidji where young kids can go to just hang out.  The workers and volunteers at the club work hard for the kids that go there to feel just like kids.  The kids that come there are kids that are having trouble with everyday life.  These kids are having troubles with their homework or getting abused at home, some kids just need a helpful word of motivation.

“To inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.” This is the Mission statement of the Boys and Girls club. The clubs main goal is to put confidence back into the children that come there.  The club does small things that make great importance with the children to make them feel special and confident.

Dakota Aeling is the art supervisor at the Boys and Girls Club in Bemidji “its nice to have volunteers that show up here to help us out, we get them often (Volunteers) but not really in our department, “ said Aeling.  “ We get people to come in to read to the children all the time, and the children really seem to enjoy,” that said Dakota.  “Some of these kids situations are really sad.  Some kids are abused at home or they are pressured to get involved in gangs, but when they come here they are allowed to become kids.”

“We have a kids art display coming up here on December 8^th and we already have a couple volunteers signed up to help,” said Dakota “ Anytime we have volunteers for that its really nice, because when the display starts and the parents come in and we like to talk to the parents and tell them how their kids are doing here.” 

There are many other things that the club has to offer.  The club has a place for kids to get help with their homework.  They can also get one-on-one tutoring. The recreational department helps kids to learn to play fair and teach them sportsmanship.  Another thing that recreational department does is help children understand diversity, and help them to better their self-esteem.

“I couldn’t imagine what some of these kids are going through,” said Anamarie Leingang who is a volunteer at the club. “What they go through at home is unreal but when they come here the troubles they have just seem to go away and it all seems better for the next couple hours they are here for.”  Leingang volunteers in the art department “some of these kids have potential, we do finger painting and regular painting its really fun.”

To become a volunteer is kind of a grueling process.  You apply at club just as if it were a job.  Then you have your interview or interviews depending on the situations then you go through a back round check.  “I was kind of shocked that I had to go through a back round check when I just wanted to be a volunteer,” said Leingang “but when you think about it it makes a lot of sense cause you are dealing with children and you are a role model to them, they look up to you.”

The Clubs goal for their employees is to build a good positive relationship with the kids that go there. “With us keeping the kids mind off of some of their everyday problem we really build a relationship with some of these kids,” said Aeling “ I never thought that I would get this comfortable with some of these kids, I consider some of them my friends.  As much as we want to help these kids some of the older ones have to make the everyday decisions on their own. We just try to be positive role models for them.  Some of the kids take advantage of this club and their behavior is inappropriate so we unfortunately have to ask them to leave.”

“One of my classes required me to volunteer somewhere and I took serious consideration in going to the human society but I came here instead,” said Leingang. I will be volunteering at the art display coming up here in December and im looking forward to it.  When I applied here to volunteer I figured I would be coming here to volunteer once or twice but im hoping to come back here to volunteer once or twice a month even though my requirement will be over.”

 

Picture by boys and girls club

Two girls are building a bond between with one another by doing each others hair.

 

Picture by boys and girls club

One way the club helps children build confidence is by giving them responsibility of taking care of pets.  Some of the children may or may not have pets at home so some of them are not use that kind of responsibility.