It takes only a couple of steps.
Open the doors at the George M. Wilfley Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs on Navajo Street in northwest Denver and you’ll quickly forget the inhospitable neighborhood surrounding you.
Having once been a teenage boy myself, I realize that referring to this facility simply as inviting would be a tactless understatement. No, we’re talking pool and pingpong tables here. We’re talking (really) big-screen TVs playing the newest releases. We’re talking full-court basketball.
For a kid, this should be, I don’t know … hypnotizing.
The Boys & Girls Clubs’ success hinges on creating the most appealing environment possible.
“We try to create a safe place, a place where the children are comforted,” Tina Martinez, director of programming, explains. “It gives them the room to grow. And the kids really love it here.”
They sure do. Not only will kids receive a hot meal each day (did I mention the video games?), but more importantly, the club offers them autonomy from the troubles outside the front door. And for $2 a year, any child between the ages of 6 and 18 can become a member of the club.
Shonnetta Henry, one of the many club members I met on my visit, leads me on the guided tour with a satisfaction that can only spring from investing yourself in something special.
Though each Denver club is run by development pros, trained volunteers, role models and mentors, one of the amazing things you’ll discover is that all the kids take part in the club’s success. Martinez calls it self-sustainability: teens learning to lead the younger kids, and so on.
Shonnetta, for instance, glows as she describes her budding leadership role within this exceptional community. “The younger kids are more likely to listen to the older kids than some adults,” she explains with a grin, before directing some kiddie traffic around us.
Through Shonnetta, I learn that despite the endless number of entertaining diversions on hand, most of the children take advantage of the educationally enriching programs as well.
Club members easily find help with their homework or use the Internet (supervised). There are, all told, 50 structured programs offered – as many as four going on at any time – that enhance the lives of these kids: performing arts, dance, drama, writing, cultural crafts, visual arts and photography, sports and fitness and technology, to name a few.
Shonnetta, coaxed by a friend, tells me about her poetry, which has won her accolades across the city and given her all-important self-confidence.
So it’s about learning and safety – and living. During the summer, the kids can attend the Gates Camp, a residential summer camp at the base of the Indian Peaks Wilderness west of Boulder. Here they raft, hike, go rock climbing and experience many of the activities most Coloradans take for granted.
The success of girls like Shonnetta is heartwarming, as 70 percent of Boys & Girl Clubs members live in poverty. Dropout rates in neighborhoods around the clubs are more than 25 percent and violent crime rates in those areas are more than 73 percent higher than the average rate in metro Denver.
And the only way Boys & Girls Clubs can continue to make a difference is with your help. The agency is seeking funding from this year’s Post-News Season to Share campaign.
Boys & Girls Clubs also are looking for volunteers. You can read a book with a child, or help a kid do his or her homework, coach a sports team or teach a class on painting or cooking – or whatever.
We all have something to give.
Staff columnist David Harsanyi can be reached at 303-954-1255 or dharsanyi@denverpost.com.
How to donate
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave more than $1.73 million to 56 agencies last year serving children and people who are hungry, homeless or in need of medical care. Donations are matched 50 cents to the dollar, and 100 percent of the donations go to the charitable agencies. To contribute, please see the coupon on this page, call 888-683-4483 or visit seasontoshare.com.
