The Club directors at Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan treat members just like their own kids. They form close bonds and often mentor children from elementary school through their teens. As young adults, graduates often come back to say “thanks.”
Tim Dougan has been involved with Boys & Girls Clubs since he was 7 years old. As a teen, he belonged to the Guest Club in Dearborn and was a member of the Keystone Club. Now a Club director of the Orion/Oxford Club, he has been instrumental in getting community interest in the Clubs. This connection includes weekly Friday visits to the Club by Lake Orion police for presentations and informal talks with the kids. The “Kids and Kops” program, now in its 10th year, builds trust among kids and officers and helps keep them law-abiding citizens. In turn, 10 youth safety corps members from the Club assisted at the police booth at the Lake Orion annual flower fair. They fingerprinted about 80 kids who visited the booth as part of an identification safety kit.
To keep kids on track for completing their homework, the professional staff, led by Anna Bongiorno and Katie Boyer, decided to make a game of it. These associates created “Clubopoly” – a version of Monopoly that features local businesses as places to buy or rent as players move around the wall-mounted game board. The game is complete with a treasure chest, which has real prizes. It’s been a good motivator since kids must finish their homework before they get to play the game at the end of the day.
