Shannon Lane (Director of Operations at BGCLC), announced that Santa wanted to give everyone one last gift. However, Santa couldn’t return unless the entire group welcomed him once more with their loudest Jingle Bells carol.

The group belted the song and when Santa entered – the room erupted in applause. Santa had the group line up, hold hands, and close their eyes.

He led the group to another ballroom within the hotel that held 32 bikes. The bikes were paid for with money raised from those participating in the Everyone Rides event, a bicycle race coordinated by Matt McCain.

When the youth were asked to open their eyes, the room was buzzing with surprise, shock, awe and overall excitement. Matt Steeves Photography captured the emotions with the amazing images in this blog.

Each Boys & Girls Club member in attendance ran to find the bike with their name on it.

In addition to the bikes, The Boys & Girls Club provided brand new helmets for each young person that received a bike. Deborah Liftig, Executive Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County, addressed the youth and made them all promise to wear their new helmets whenever they rode their bikes.

They agreed.

A few of the youth expressed their excitement:

I got a skating helmet! It looks so cool! I can’t wait to go riding, it’s going to be awesome. – Matthew

For many of the youth we spoke with, it was their very first bike.

Many of the adults in attendance were very humbled by the experience.

“Knowing that for some of these young people, it’s their first bike and first time even being in a hotel ballroom – it just puts stuff in perspective. We’re very blessed to have what we have and that’s why this organization is so important,” said Garrett Rasmussen of the Boys & Girls Club.

Take a little time this holiday season to make a donation that will help the youth of Lee County on their way to a great 2012!

Click here to see the rest of the photos from the Boys & Girls Club Bike Giveaway.

Click here to see the photos from the rest of the Boys & Girls Club Holiday Party.

Click here to read about the rest of the Holiday Party.

The youth said a prayer before enjoying pizza and gatorade among their friends, compliments of Domino’s Pizza. Cheyenne led the group in a rowdy rendition of Jingle Bells to welcome Santa as the special guest for the evening. Each youth had the opportunity to sit for a photo with Santa, who gave everyone a special gift bag filled with educational activities and tasty treats.

Board member Marilyn Todd of Ted Todd Insurance also provided the youth with wooden frames, markers and festive holiday sticker decorations to design their own photo frame as board member Brad Dohack printed their photos with Santa. The photos and frames serve as a great reminder of their special day.

The fun continued with a performance from a magician. Joey Evens wowed the group with magic tricks, offering laughter and amazement to each of the youths.

The night went on with fun and crazy games, planned by Jillian Dohack and Mary Kazor. First, the group was divided into two teams for the Balloon game. The youth had to sit on balloons to make them pop – and the first team to go through their entire line was declared the winner. The smiles and laughter could be heard well into the hotel as each youth tried to pop their balloon.

Games continued as each youth tried to “Pin the carrot nose on Frosty” while blindfolded. We were able to capture some great photos of each of these games. It was obvious how much everyone (even the adults) enjoyed the games.

Click here to view a gallery of photos from the first part of the Boys & Girls Club Holiday Party.
Click here to read about the rest of the Boys & Girls Club Holiday Party.

The Lehigh Acres Boys & Girls Club location is one of two new clubs that have joined the ranks of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County. Recently we took a visit to the location to learn more about the activities that the youth participate in for the afterschool program. The club is filled to capacity at 70 youth. Reading, games, homework, crafts and sports/fitness are some of the activities we witnessed during our visit.

The facility is located at 1262 Wings Way, #206 in Lehigh Acres. It features a check-in area, study room/homework room, a large social room, an arts and crafts room and a videogame room that will soon have a Wii game system.

When we arrived, the youth were creating handmade (literally) turkey crafts created from the outline of their hands. Before lining up to go outside, we were able to capture a few photos of their artwork.

The youth at the Lehigh Acres location are lucky enough to have a large field and blocked-off portion of the parking lot to play in. Marlos, one of the youth that we spoke with, told us that going outside is his favorite part of the afterschool program:

“I really like playing basketball, kickball and dodgeball. Dodgeball is my favorite.”

Some of the girls played school and had a hula hooping contest and jumped rope, while some of the boys had a basketball shooting contest.

The majority of the youth were involved in an exciting game of kickball.

We were able to capture some great photos of these activities!

This club and the new Renaissance Club location need your help to keep them staffed with quality individuals and necessary equipment.

Make a donation today to ensure that more youth can enjoy the facilities and that staff is supported at each Boys & Girls Club location throughout Lee County.

The new club is approximately 4,000  SF and features a great room with a reception and gathering area, pool table, foosball table and air hockey table. The state of the art kitchen is equipped with a double oven, two refrigerators and ample space to store everything the youth will need to learn to prepare healthy, balanced meals. A contemporary hang out / reading room will offer the young people space to lounge and read books, or comfortably complete homework assignments. The arts and crafts room includes art tables and supplies to nurture creativity and the computer lab will allow access to technology with software for word processing and learning. To encourage fitness and team building, the youth have access to basketball courts and fields to play sports and learn leadership and social skills.

The building is a product of collaboration from many, including: The Housing Authority of the City of Fort Myers, Norstar Development, contractors Brooks and Freund, Sheely Architects, and HUD.

Honored guest, James Middlebrooks, Jr. reminisced about the Dunbar Community Center from 30 years prior, stating that after so long, the youth of the community deserve something nice: “I’m so thankful to see this club on this site […] The kids are gonna take care of this club. They will be so honored. On this site they can be safe.”

Deborah Liftig, the Executive Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County, addressed the attendees and spoke passionately about the cause. She gestured to the photographs surrounding the group,

“These are our kids. They deserve this building and the very best in life. It is incumbent upon us to help them find that life as responsible adults and members of this community who know what the possibilities are. Kids have to face more in getting up and going to school than many will face in their lives. They need to know that there is a safe place where there are adults that will sit, listen and talk one-on-one. This is their club. We’re going to dedicate every fiber of our being to making sure that we have more clubs like this one.”

Marcia Davis was recognized by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County for her vision and support in the planning and completion of the new Renaissance location.

Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto passionately described her mission to, “[…] Lead each to fulfill the promise within them. We must help these young people experience the world beyond their home and rebuilding a new future for the residents in the area.”

The celebration of the Renaissance club’s opening sets a new standard for future Boys & Girls Clubs locations throughout Lee County. We encourage you to contribute what you can to ensure that the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County can continue to grow and staff the locations with quality individuals who will help build the Great Futures that the youth in Lee County deserve.

Donate Now. Change lives.

Photo Credit: Matt Steeves Photography

While it seems that Halloween was ages ago, it was just last week that the young people at the Boys & Girls Clubs throughout Lee County were dressed up to celebrate the fall holiday. We received some photos from a celebration at Shady Oaks and couldn’t help but share them with you.

From witches to bumble bees, scary masks, superheroes, soldiers and cuddly teddy bears – we loved all of the costumes!

Mr. Chris, the site director for The Boys & Girls Club at Shady Oaks had this to say about the Halloween party:

It was a great success.  We had about 80% of our enrolled members show up along with about 40 family, friends, and neighbors from the community. We had pizza, drinks, music, dancing, and candy, candy, candy. We had a ball.

A special thank you to all our staff, volunteers and parents that helped make this another great event. We love you guys and we couldn’t have pulled it off without you.

Click here to view all the photographs from the Halloween Party at Shady Oaks.

All of events at every Boys & Girls Club location throughout Lee County are possible because of donations from individuals and organizations. It’s with your help that we can continue to provide a safe, constructive and enriching after school experience for the youth at each Boys & Girls Club in Southwest Florida.

Help ensure that programs and celebrations like these continue to enrich the lives of the youth, inspiring them to lead great futures and recognize their full potential.

Donate now to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County.

We’re proud to announce that the club has been completed and will be officially opening today, Thursday, November 10^th at 10am. Please join us at the ribbon cutting for this brand new location at 4224 Renaissance Preserve Way in Fort Myers.

The opening of Renaissance marks a huge milestone in the growth of our organization and will serve as an after school location and enrichment facility for more than 100 young people in the East Fort Myers area.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County thank you for your continued support, we look forward to seeing you at Renaissance Preserve!

Did you know that the donation of a vehicle is tax deductible?

Clunky gas guzzlers don’t do much sitting in your driveway and they’re usually a pain to sell. But donating them to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lee County opens up many possibilities.

We will pick up or tow your vehicle, eliminating the burden of selling it yourself. Whether you provide a car, truck, RV, SUV, motorcycle or boat – you’ll receive the maximum possible charitable tax deduction.

Your donation will go directly towards helping youth in your local community.

If you’re interested in donating a vehicle, please contact Shannon Lane at slane@bgclc.net or call the administrative office at 239.334.1886.

The annual event is open to the public free of charge and is organized by the Lee County Port Authority. The event is designed to educate Lee County’s residents about aviation and its contribution to the enrichment of our local economy.

The event will feature a North American P-51D Mustang and a Douglas DC-7B as well as plane rides, exhibits and children’s activities. The day will also include special character appearances, demonstrations by the local police and fire departments and refreshments.

We encourage youth and adults of all ages to come and enjoy the festivities! While the event is free, attendees are invited to bring a canned food item as a donation for the Harry Chapin Food Bank.

Come visit the Boys & Girls Club’s table to learn more about our organization and how you can be a part of it. We hope to see everyone this Saturday!