Stop the Hate:Can't We All Just Get Along?

In a city-wide campaign to "Stop the Hate" in Cleveland neighborhoods, our club members came up with creative ways to combat the violence and crime that they see all around them. Each club presented their ideas at our annual board meeting last Wednesday to show that they are serious about "stopping the hate" in their lives. Here are some photos and a few of the poems that the students read.

"Stop The Violence"
Lives Lead On The Wrong Path

With Twist And Turns That A Create Horrible Aftermath

Families Broken Apart All Because You Wanted A Name

But In The End You Just Thrusting Yourself Into The Flames 

Lives Taken Away By Drugs And Violence

And Put Into An Eternal Silence 

Guns Fired Over Alleged Words

Just Stop The Violence And Let Your Voice Be Heard

-Brenda A. Brown

Broadway Club Member

“If the World was Blind”

      By Anna McBride

Why is the color on the outside of me so important to you?

Who would you like me to be? What would you like me to do?

Do you want everyone to act and look exactly the same?

All the hate and the fighting people like you are to blame.

Sometimes I wish that the whole world was blind

so you could only see people for what’s on the inside.

We would all look at the world through non-judgmental eyes

This hate is getting us no where can’t you just realize?

If only the world was blind…
-read by Karessa W. and Shylah S.
Broadway Club Members

“For the Boy”

By Erin

I cried for the boy who never knew me.

I cried for the boy because he was different.

I cried for the boy when they teased him.

I cried for the boy when they hurt him.

I cried for the boy when they took it too far.

I cried for the boy when he took his life into his own hands and left this world.

I cried for the boy because I saw this all happen.

I cried because I never said anything to stop it.

I cried because I laughed at their jokes.

I cried because he never hurt anyone.

I cried because he was alone.

I cried for his family.

I cried for not talking to him when I knew I could have been a friend.

I cried for the life he will never experience.

I cried for the boy I should have known.

                                                            -read by Kashjaona W. and DeSeana M.

                                                            Broadway Club members

Fun Photo Friday: College Bound

On July 27, 2011, the Boys & Girls Club Bridge Board awarded one thousand dollar college scholarships to four of our club members. The four selected club members have all shown outstanding commitment to their clubs and are more than deserving of the scholarships they received. We wish them much success in their college bound lives and future career paths! Here are photos of the club members receiving their scholarships.

Kinyatta Edgerson

  

 Always Be A Student

Keep on learning, graduate,
Though your graduation's done;
Your whole life's an education
That has only just begun.

Your diploma is the first big step,
For knowledge is the special key
To winning what you want in life
And being who you want to be.

If you'll always be a student,
You'll find the secrets to success
And travel on the golden road
To peace and happiness.

By Joanna Fuchs

Jaime Tirado and Nora Loftus

“So, impossible as it may seem
You've got to fight for every dream
Cause who's to know which one you let go
Would have made you complete”

-Ruben Studdard, “Flying Without Wings 



Frederick Alexander and Nora Loftus



"I believe in the impossible
If I reach deep within my heart
Overcome any obstacle
Won't let this dream fall apart
See I strive to be the very best
Shine my light for all to see
Cause anything is possible
When you believe”

Aaron Bender and Nora Loftus

-Fantasia Barrino “I Believe”









Fun Photo Friday: Careers in Broadcasting

This past week has been an exciting and busy week for our club members. On Thursday, members from all of our clubs were apart of a live audience for a competition called Careers in Broadcasting. The competition is hosted by the Boys & Girls Club, Taco Bell, and WKYC Channel 3 news station.  Six contestants from our clubs and from other schools throughout the city competed for the opportunity to host their very own segment on the WKYC Channel 3 news station.  The competition took place in a studio room at WKYC in which the six contestants had to give a three minute broadcast about a current event. Our club members then assisted the competition judges on deciding which male and female contestant would win. Our members also received a tour of the news station in which they met many people and learned a lot about news casting while having a great time. Check out some of the pictures of the tour and competition!

Congratulations to Angela Wright and Elliot Bridges for winning the competition!

All of the contestants

The winners!

Fun Photo Friday: Jumping Across Borders

Teddy bear, teddy bear turn all around.

Teddy bear, teddy bear touch the ground.

Teddy bear, teddy bear show your shoes.

Teddy bear, teddy bear how old are you?

1, 2, 3,…!!

Remember sitting outside on the front porch with your friends on a warm summer day eating ice-cream?  Nobody wanted to play tag or hide and go seek any more, so you all did the next best thing: jump rope. Even as the years roll by and fashions, fads, and technology change, jump rope has still found a way to stay active in the lives of both children and adults throughout the world.

On Tuesday, our kids from the Broadway Club received a chance to meet a group of young professional jump rope team members from Tanzania and Kenya. These very special visitors are a part of a non- profit organization called One World One Rope. This organization is a global instructional jump rope program that has started jump rope teams all over the world. Our club members’ cultural awareness increased as they discovered and talked about the differences and similarities between our guests and themselves. They also learned a lot of new jump rope tricks as well. These are some pictures of our members interacting with One World One Rope team members.

We would like to thank One World One Rope for taking time out their busy schedule to come and jump rope across the border with our kids.

Rays of Sunshine

Anyone from the Cleveland area would definitely agree that when it rains here, it pours suddenly, harshly, and nonstop. On rainy days, most people scurry to find a warm and dry shelter to protect them from the cats and dogs falling from the sky outside. Most people. At the Boys and Girls Club on Broadway, we got the unique opportunity to witness nineteen awesome men and women from various Office Max stores in the Cleveland area who not only volunteered hours of their time to come and help us clean rooms around the club, but they also planted new flowers throughout our gardens in the pouring rain. Their benevolence and hard work is evident all throughout our club.



Front yard garden



This group of Office Max volunteers was all business from the time they arrived at 9 am. They started the morning off by cleaning bleachers in our gym and picking up the trash in between all the seats. The volunteers then tackled various storage rooms where they cleaned out old supplies, re-organized shelves, and even moved some items we had to a new storage room. Next, they proceeded to move outdoors where they split into teams and planted flowers in our numerous flower gardens and around our field. There was only one small problem: a huge rain storm was raging outside. However, this did not stop these courageous men and women from completing their task. Despite our numerous efforts to get them to come inside, they went on planting as if it was any other regular day. It rained for at least an hour and half and not once did any of these volunteers come inside other than for a drink of water or more tools. They did not complain nor did they obtain negative attitudes.  We were all simply in awe at the focus, efficiency, and dedication that these men and women possessed throughout their time at the club. However, the most amazing part about the whole experience was that they did all this before lunch time.



Backyard garden



            Around 12:30pm, the Office Max volunteers finally took a break and went on lunch. However, their day was only half over. After all of the hard work that they did during the morning, this fearsome group decided to volunteer even more of their time by engaging in “interactive time” with the children from the club. They played ping pong and basketball, read, talked and spend hours just hanging out around the club with the children.  By the time the Office Max volunteers left that day, they had volunteered over 100 hours of their time to the club.

            The kindness and selflessness that the Office Max workers showed towards the Broadway Boys and Girls Club is priceless. From working in the rain to hanging with the children, this special group of volunteers went over and beyond all that was asked of them. Both the children and the staff really appreciated and enjoyed the positive energy and liveliness that the volunteers displayed the entire time that they were here. They are truly an amazing group of individuals and we are very grateful for all that they did for us.

Fun Photo Friday: I'M LOVIN' IT!

“I’m Lovin’ It.”
We have all heard this slogan countless times as we watched McDonald’s commercials, saw their billboards, or heard their ad on the radio. Yet for the children and staff at the Broadway club, this slogan takes on a whole new meaning.  Ronald McDonald House Charities graciously provided the Broadway club with new tables at which they can eat. Although to some people having a table to eat at may not be a big deal, to the children and staff at the Broadway club it makes a world of difference.

Before receiving the new tables, mealtimes were hectic. The children would have to eat in whatever space that they found around the club. Sometimes this meant eating in the gym on the bleachers, on the floor, or standing up. Other times, children would walk around the club to find available rooms or spaces. The children never got a chance to eat together in one area.  However because of the support of Ronald McDonald House Charities, children can now have a real dinner time where they can sit and socialize with their friends in one central location. The tables allow the children to get a community feel as the share a meal together. The addition of the tables not only benefits the children at the club, but it lifts a burden off the staff as well.  With all the children and food in one place, staff can better maintain a clean and sanitary food area. They can better sustain a clean club because they no longer have to worry about children roaming all over the club eating their meals. However, Ronald McDonald House Charities provided more than just tables for the children and staff at the clubs. They provided an opportunity for a stronger community bond, friendship, and most of all a unity amongst the club during mealtimes. The children and staff at the Broadway club are simply…lovin’ it.

 Thank you, Ronald McDonald House Charities.

Headed in the Right Direction

Guest Blog By: Debra O'Neal
2011 Cleveland Foundation Intern

To most people the word “public housing” is synonymous with crime, violence, and poverty.  People envision single mothers with multiple children, no jobs and living off of welfare. However while some of those claims may have truth to them, most people fail to see how public housing can also play a positive role in the lives of the children who live there. As a child who grew up in public housing, I can definitely say that the lessons and experiences I took from there played a major part in shaping my character and helping me to achieve the many accomplishments that I have.

Though I lived in low income housing all my life, I didn’t realize that I was “poor” until I was in high school.  I never felt "poor” or felt that I was lacking in any area. My parents always had jobs, and even though I did not receive EVERYTHING I wanted, neither my siblings nor I ever went without the things we needed. We never had the latest gadgets or the newest fads, but we were content with what we did have, and compared to some of our friends we were very well off. Though we may have been financially poor, the love of my parents, family, and friends made us spiritually and emotionally rich. I am blessed to have such a good family, and despite others’ beliefs, I feel blessed to had been raised in public housing. From an outsider’s perspective, it may have seemed that the neighborhoods in which I was raised in were terrible, but it was because of those neighborhoods that I am who I am today.

My neighborhood that I grew up in consisted of eight six-bedroom low income apartments. These apartments were exclusively meant for parents who had more that six children under their care. So even though there were only a few families there, more than seventy people lived in this area alone. There were always a lot of kids around for every age group, so our summers were always filled with a lot of fun and excitement. Though some of us went to summer camps or daycare, we still found ways to create new games or activities to fill our time when we were at home. One summer, after the housing authority built a basketball court in our back yard, we started a summer league in which we even convinced a local church to donate to us some pennies. Another time, we decided to throw our mothers a surprise Mother’s Day program complete with snacks, dance routines, and music.  One year, we even started a step team in which we competed against other teams and almost won. These are the memories I hold of public housing, not those negative generalizations that people are so quick to assume.

Why we certainly had our share of fights and pain, we also had an abundance of good memories and positive experiences. It is because of growing up in public housing that I learned to value the importance of family, hard work, and perseverance, and most of all, community. I found out at an early age that nobody expected us to be successful or respected us. Therefore in order to achieve anything, I needed to work twice as hard in school, at work, and especially in staying out of trouble in our neighborhoods.  I understood early to make the best of what I had and that no matter how bad something may seem at the time, it never lasts forever. Living in public housing taught me a lot of things, but the biggest lesson it showed me was that since I already started at the bottom, the only direction that I could go was up.