Matt T.
Program Coordinator @ Almond-Bancroft Extention
This summer I moved from working at the Teen Center to working at the Boys and Girls Club site in Almond-Bancroft. The transition from working with Teens to working with Elementary aged students was different but it only took me a few days to start to really enjoy it. On my second day of working in Almond this summer we were playing a game of dodgeball outside when I noticed a new girl, sitting on the side of the dodgeball court, looking rather scared and apprehensive about playing. I decided to go to the side and ask her if she wanted to play. She replied, “No, I’m not very good at Dodgeball”. I told her that didn’t matter, that dodgeball was just about having fun, and that I would help her learn the rules as we played. She smiled and joined the game, and although she really didn’t know the rules, she had tons of fun running around with her classmates, the fear in her eyes turned into a smile on her face and she went home happy that day.
The next day, the first thing she did when she got to the club was run up to me and give me a high-five. Later that day her father came to pick her up at the end of the day, we engaged in some small talk and I asked him how his daughter was enjoying the club. He said she used to always ask, “Dad where can I play with some kids”, but now because of the Boys and Girls Club, she knows that she will be able to play with kids every day. It is safe to say that the Boys and Girls Club in Almond is having an impact on kids in the area by giving them a place to be kids together, in an area where that might otherwise not be possible.