The Boys and Girls Club of Geneva is preparing for its 21st annual dinner. Chris Lavin is the BGC’s executive director.
“Well, this has been a transformative year for the Boys and Girls Club of Geneva. We just finished a summer program that had, by my calculation, almost 10,000 hours of kid-augmented education time in the summer. More than 120 kids going to school four extra hours every morning and then joining us for an afternoon program of enrichment that includes trips to the gorge at Watkins Glen with a geologist. Things that really move the needle on their education. During a time when people worry about education loss, I think we have education gain in Geneva.”
Lavin attributes the success of BGC programs to the hard work of his staff and volunteers and to partnerships including Geneva City Schools and Hobart and William Smith Colleges. The annual dinner is also a time to recognize individuals who have contributed to the organization and the community. This year, the honorees are The Reverend Jim and Sue Adams. The Adams have brought the arts to BGC programs through St. Peter’s Community Arts Academy. They’ve provided other opportunities for the kids at the BGC as well.
“This past summer, the Adams took four of our members to their Lake Delaware Camp for Boys down in the Catskills. That was five weeks of leadership training and we hope to add four more next year and four more after that. We get twelve or sixteen Geneva kids getting this kind of summer training. I think we can move the needle on a bunch of young lives.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Geneva’s 21st Annual Dinner is at the Ramada Geneva Lakefront on Thursday, October 19th. You can find more information on their website.
