Published May 25, 2019 07:00
Name: Nefertari aka. Nefi
Age: 8
BGC Club Location: West End Hub
BGC Member Since Grade 2
What is your favourite memory of the Boys and Girls Club?
Doing fun activities with my friends – painting, making slime, going to the jungle gym, and playing gagaball and dodgeball
How does coming to the Boys and Girls Club make you feel?
Happy and Good
What should everyone know about the Boys and Girls Club? The Boys and Girls Club is a great place to come and do fun activities!
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The Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre celebrated its Grand Opening this past November and since then has been providing a range of educational programs for children and youth, while serving as the new home of The Reading Clinic. The Reading Clinic is Eastern Ontario's only not-for-profit intensive reading clinic for students with reading difficulties and dyslexia, also delivering programs supporting writing and mathematics. Over the past fifteen years, Reading Clinic Founders Jan MacLean and Jennifer Harrison have worked with hundreds of students over thousands of hours in reading and writing remediation. Their progressive program approach has been developed based on extensive experience with a variety of Multi-Sensory Structured Language programs and the Orton-Gillingham approach, as recommended by the International Dyslexia Association. Jan, Jennifer, and The Reading Clinic staff have changed the lives of the children and youth in their programs - in fact, an independent study conducted collaboratively by Queen’s Faculties of Education and Psychology, confirmed the effectiveness of The Reading Clinic’s approaches, finding that the children in the Reading Clinic’s program improved in a range of reading skills approximately three times as fast as they had been improving prior to participating at the clinic.
In 2016, The Reading Clinic partnered with the Boys and Girls Club and, before November’s relocation, had been operating collaboratively out of a basement office in the Robert Meek Youth Community Centre. Since the collaboration, awareness of The Reading Clinic’s services has grown and so has their client list - so much so, that a larger, more accessible space was needed to continue to effectively serve the community. Now, thanks to the generous support of community partners and donors, The Reading Clinic has expanded to a new home in a contemporary learning centre opened by the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area.
‘The expanded new space at the Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre has allowed The Reading Clinic to have our Instructors in one centralized location to provide instruction in Yes! Reading, Writing and Math. Our 'team' approach to remediation allows us to provide the best instruction based on the individual needs of each child,’ says Pam Barrett, Coordinator of Reading Programs at The Reading Clinic.
The expansion of The Reading Clinic has not only improved accessibility to their services but has also allowed for the Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre to offer additional educational programs in a variety of formats such as: parent and teacher education support and training, summer programs, subject specific tutoring in small-medium sized groups, an expansion of existing Boys and Girls Club educational programming, as well as serving as an additional location for EarlyON programs focused on early childhood development.
The Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre is named after storied community advocate, educator, volunteer, and champion of the Boys and Girls Club, Reg Shadbolt. The former Director of the Frontenac County School Board, Reg Shadbolt was instrumental in the establishment and growth of the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston & Area and numerous Board of Education initiatives. The programs offered at the Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre are not just building up children's skills in reading, writing or math, they are building their confidence, their determination, and their future.
The Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre would not have been possible without the support of many generous donors and partners. Thank you to and Reg and Audrey Shadbolt, Alliance Security Team, Jessica Bayne Hogan, Taggart Parkes Foundation, Jim Brown & Joan Lee, Jack Gilfillan, Wayne & Nancy Gollogly, The Estate of Larry Gibson, Alex Smith, Janet Smith, Melissa Smith, James Ward & Family, Matthew & Jennifer Derbyshire, Colbourne & Kembal Architects Inc., Fred Benford – CIBC Miracle Day, the Community Foundation of Kingston & Area and many community donors for providing support to expand these programs to ensure children of all financial backgrounds can access high-quality educational services.
The programs offered through The Reading Clinic at the Reg Shadbolt Learning Centre truly are life-changing, "I can safely say that the Reading Clinic profoundly changed my daughter's life. The time my daughter spent at the Reading Clinic was the best investment in my daughter's life and future," shares a parent of a child who attends The Reading Clinic.
The need for these programs continues to grow, and despite the continued expansion of service delivery, there remains a waitlist of children waiting to access these supports. Recognizing the significant impact that these programs can have, the Boys and Girls Club has been working to relieve this waitlist and provide these life-changing tutoring services to children who may not otherwise be able to access them due to socioeconomic barriers. Please support the Kingston Whig Standard Campaign today to support critical educational programming for children and youth in our community.
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Thank you to our donors!
$5500 - Reg and Audrey Shadbolt
$3900 – Peter Dawe – Board of Directors
$600 - In Memory of R.E. Masotti
$150 - Walt and Sharleen Gargaro
$1000 - B'nai Brith Lodge 1191 Kingston
$500 – John and Phyllis Rae
$200 – V & C
$50 - Dale Mercer
$50 – Don and Pat Parks
$100 - Walter Hirst
Total Raised to Date: $76,767
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!