Published May 15, 2019 06:00
Name: Cheyenne
Age: 7
BGC Club Location: Rideau Heights Community Centre
BGC Member Since Kindergarten
What is your favourite activity at the Boys and Girls Club?
Playing with toys and friends, and swimming!
How does coming to the Boys and Girls Club make you feel?
Happy
What is your favourite memory of the Boys and Girls Club?
Doing an Easter Egg Hunt Outside
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The Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area has at long last launched programs in a new recreation facility for children, youth, and families at 695 Innovation Drive in Kingston’s East End. With generous support from the City of Kingston, Pittsburgh Community Benefit Fund, and Bourgon Construction, this new East End Expansion project brings children and families a new space that is dedicated to free play, organized activities, skill development, and physical activity.
The Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area’s expansion may not come as a surprise as the East End community has, in the past, had notably limited access to indoor physical activity spaces which makes keeping active tricky during the long winter months. By completing the construction of this innovative and accessible facility, including installing a new indoor Jungle Gym play structure in this space, Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area has extended their associated services targeting children aged 0 to 12 through: EarlyON programming, parent and child drop-in jungle gym play times, Bricks4Kidz STEM Learning programming, birthday parties, and private events for families, teams and community groups. Their hope is that this new space will encourage more physical activity and after-school learning amongst local children in a supervised, safe, respectful, and controlled environment.
Tony Gargaro, Director of Operations, says that in his 18 years with the Boys and Girls Club there has always been the intent to expand Eastward, “We have always known there has been a need in the East End community for more programming for children and youth and the establishment of the 695 Innovation Drive facility is just the beginning of our service expansion. Within the next two years we hope to be serving young people in this area from infancy to adulthood - it’s with the support of local groups like the Pittsburgh Community Benefit Fund, Bourgon Construction, and of course, the City of Kingston that we are finally seeing our vision become a reality.”
A breadth of research shows that children and youth need to lead active and healthy lives and that having a great deal of unstructured, unsupervised, and unproductive time can undermine their positive development. The right program at the right time can make a significant difference in a child's life - that is why BGC programs aim to engage young people in our community from infancy to adulthood. Boys and Girls Club programs focus on engagement in learning, social connections and involvement in community, and building emotional and physical wellbeing in and for young people. Structured, supervised, and nurturing out of school environments have lasting, positive effects on children and youth’s emotional and physical well-being and their academic development - especially when they participate consistently over long periods of time.
For more information on programs offered at the new East End facility, please visit www.bgckingston.ca.
Thank you to our donors!
Finlay $1000
Robert McIntyre $500
Anonymous $100
Merrilees Muir $250
Anonymous $100
Anonymous $25
John Lukezich $25
Anonymous $50
Margaret Abbott $50
Shirley Henderson $100
Anonymous $50
Douglas (Bud) Beatty $100
Anonymous $250
Anonymous $100
Rosemary Beerling $50
Jane Adams $120
Margaret Mountenay $200
Anonymous $100
Donald & Helen Kurman $102
Elliot & Shirley Samuels $50
Anonymous $25
Anonymous $100
Total Raised to Date: $14,317
Donate Now
Whig-Standard/Boys and Girls Club Campaign How to Donate By cheque:
To the address below and indicate if you would like to keep your donation anonymous.
By credit card (Visa, MasterCard): Call 613-507-3306, ext. 110
By cash: At the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston and Area West End Hub, 1300 Bath Rd., Kingston, ON, K7M 4X4
Online: At www.bgckingston.ca , click on the secure “Donate Now” button on the top right side of the website.
Tax Receipt: A tax receipt will be mailed to you within four weeks.
Questions: Heather Hayhow, heatherh@bgckingston.ca
Thank you for supporting the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area!