Changing, shaping ? and often even saving ? kids' lives is what the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harrisonburg and Rockingham County does best. This, and the way we do it, is what separates us from the pack of other social services and non-profit organizations that serve our community.
For Harrisonburg and Rockingham County kids in grades 1-12, BGCHR provides a positive, constructive bridge between the end of the school day and the parents' arrival home from work. For the 2500 kids we serve, this means that they are in a protected, constructive environment during the high-risk hours of 3-8 p.m. During those hours, our top-notch staff of well-trained professionals and volunteers provide kids:
These services distinguish us and help us stand out from other after school programs in our area. Because of what we provide the area's families, parents and schools report improvements among our members in academic performance, attendance, attitude, and SOL tests scores.
We clearly make a distinctive difference in our community.
In our diverse and rapidly changing world where increasing numbers of kids are getting involved in risky behaviors, the Boys & Girls Clubs are needed more now than at any other point in our nation's history. Locally, we serve children representing the full socio-economic scale, which ranges from impoverished to affluent. Sadly, the snacks and light meals we provide represent some of the best nourishment that 56% of our Club members receive daily. Our members are also multi-cultural. The population we serve is 65% Caucasian, 9% Black, 13% Hispanic, 6% Asian, 4% multi-racial, and 3% Native American. Regardless of the socio-economic status or his cultural and ethnic position on the world stage, BGCHR shines the spotlight on each child and gives each one ample opportunity to maximize his or her potential. No other child-centered, after-school service organization in the area accomplishes this mission on the scale of BGCHR. Today's perfect economic storm is leading to increased requests for our services from families that need ? but cannot afford ? them and is placing unprecedented demands and financial strains on the organization and its lean staff. We provide many need-based scholarships averaging about $1000 per child in order to keep our services affordable and accessible for all. Our needs are urgent and mounting.
Our individual and corporate donors and community stakeholders are BGCHR's lifeblood. Without local philanthropic support and volunteer services, our positive impact on the community would be severely diminished. We are a non-profit, not a government entity, and as such, we rely heavily on our local businesses and individual donors' benevolence to keep us viable.
Each year there are ? and WILL be ? uncertainties regarding government funding for the organization. THIS reality makes the support from our local community more important than ever before. Presently, only 4% of our donations come from the philanthropic giving of individuals in our community. This falls far behind the state's average of 13%. Increasing our individual donor level to 13% would make it possible for us to positively touch almost 100 additional young lives in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.
Undoubtedly, your support is a critical factor in our being able to fulfill our mission for local kids.