Boys and Girls Club of Hartford

We spoke with President and CEO Bruce Wayne Jeffrey, Boys and Girls Club of Hartford about their upcoming gala, the Great Futures Celebration.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Thank you for listening to Community Access. My
guest this morning is Bruce Wayne Jeffrey, President and CEO
of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford. Good morning,
good morning, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Thank you so much for having me on. And I'm
super excited to be able to share a little bit
about some great exciting things we got coming along for
the Hertford community.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's because it's the one hundred and sixty fifth anniversary
of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yes, yes, for those listeners that don't know, the Boys
and Girls Club of Hartford is actually the original Boys
and Girls Club for our national movement. We were actually
founded in eighteen sixty right here in this community. And
so for one hundred and sixty five years, not only
have we been shepherding and championing our young people here,
but our movement has grown to over three thousand Boys

(00:47):
and Girls clubs all across the country.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Wow, that is just amazing. So what are you doing
to celebrate the day.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
So we have coming up in just a few weeks
our Great Futures Gala, So think about a thing around
the history of one hundred and sixty five years of music,
magic and memories, So it will be a night that
you do not want to miss. And so we will
be celebrating just the great accomplishments of the most recent past,

(01:14):
but then going all the way back to the foundation
of this being the original Boys and Girls Club. We
are super excited to be able to invite you out
that night.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
So this takes place on June seventh. Where's it happening.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
So it's going to be at Infinity Hall right here
in Harford and it starts at six pm.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Can people go to your website to get more information,
So if.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
You're interested in buying tickets, if you still want to
be a sponsor, you know, if your company is interested
in being a sponsor for the event, you can go
to our website www dot BGC Hartford dot org and
as soon as you go to the landing page, it
to pop up with all the information. And just want
to encourage the community as we think about young people
and just young people's journey, it's events like this where

(01:54):
we can bring the community together raise the necessary dollars
to ensure young people have opportunities through the Boys Girls Club.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
And why is the Boys and Girls clubs so important
to our youth?

Speaker 2 (02:04):
So our mission talks about to be able to enable
all young people, especially those who need us the most.
And so we know in communities that there are some
young people who unfortunately are underserved. Right it's not necessarily
something they've personally asked to be, but they've grown up
in environments where they don't necessarily have all the resources,
have all the support. And so the Boys and Girls

(02:24):
Club is here to ensure that all young people have
access to quality, they have access to care and adults,
they have access to opportunities, and we want them leaving
our program really being able to pick a path in
the future that enables them to grow up to be
successful adults. And so through the generosity of community enables
us to be able to do that.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
And is there a cost to attend the gala?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
So yes, there is a cost to attend the gala.
Our tickets are two fifty for individuals.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
And will there be food and alcohol besides dancing.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
So we'll be dancing, we'll have music, we'll have food,
we'll have drinks. Some of our club members will be
there to perform during the event as well. We'll recognize
our Youth of the year, so those that may not
be familiar Boys and Girls Clubs. We really want to
honor the young people in our program and so our
signature program is Youth of the Year. So think about
one young club member out of the thousands of kids

(03:18):
that we serve that actually competes in a competition. They
compete in a local competition, and then they actually get
to compete in a regional competition and then from there,
if they win, they get to go to national. So
if you win the national Youth of the Year program,
you get a four year scholarship and a car. Well
to imagine going to the Boys and Girls Club as
a teenager and you win these competitions, you can actually

(03:38):
get a four year free ride scholarship in a vehicle
by just coming to the Boys and Girls Club. And
so it's opportunities like that, events like the Great Futures
Gala that allows us to be able to do those
kind of things.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
What are some of the activities you'd like to mention
that the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford has.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
So I think you know any number of activities that
you can think kids from young people from the ages
of six to eighteen can do. We probably do some
component of it, but if you access kind of what
the foundation of what we do is really focus in
four areas. Our academic success, so think about young people
being exposed to academic academic type opportunities like steam and

(04:16):
you know other things. Our next one is our healthy living,
So how do we ensure that young people have exposure
to be able to make great healthy lifestyles and healthy
lifestyle choices. We also have workforce development, so how do
we enable and encourage our young people to start looking
at the past, whether it's you know, enrolling into universities,

(04:39):
whether it's you know, going directly into the workforce. And
then last, we have our good character and citizenship. So
we want to ensure that we have programs and opportunities
that help young people grow, help them build good character,
understand how to you know, look someone in the face
and shake the hand. And so our four pillars of
what we call it are really where we focus. And

(04:59):
through those pillars we offer pretty much any and everything.
And you can't forget there's a whole lot of fun
through field trips in basketball that actually help get the
kids into the program as well.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Wow, every single part that they would need emotionally, physically, mentally,
it's just wonderful. I'm speaking with Bruce Wayne Jeffrey, President
and CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hartford.
It's the one hundred and sixty fifth anniversary June seventh.
It's the Great Futures Gala. As Bruce Wayne Jeffrey would say,
I say gala, I have that Connecticut accent. It's at

(05:32):
Infinity Hall in Hartford. It's two hundred and fifty dollars
for a great cause, dinner, dancing, and more. Go to
BGC Hartford dot org to get your tickets or to
find out more about their programs and services. Thank you
so much for being here today and for loving on
our children and pouring into their lives. We appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, thank you, And I just thank the Hertford community
for welcoming so far, but more importantly and continuing to
support young people all across this region. It really is
greatly appreciate it.