2016

Boys & Girls Clubs of America and Comcast along with other corporate supporters will award Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County with a brand new 2016 Chevrolet Express Passenger van (MSRP $40,000) as part of the non-profit’s Back2School Stuff the Bus challenge. Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County was awarded the van because of their service to kids in the community. The new vehicle will be used to help the organization with transporting kids and teens to the facility after-school. The critical resource is vital in helping local youth get the opportunity to attend a Club to engage in Club programming and activities like homework help, STEM learning, coding, sports and leadership clubs.

Volunteers from UTC Climate, Controls & Security spent an afternoon assistng nearly 50 Club members in developing a basic understanding of solar energy through hands-on activities that demonstrated how solar energy can transform into kinetic energy, thermal energy, chemical energy and electricity. They also learned about wind and how to measure wind speed and direction, and investigated how wind works and generates electricity. Club members and volunteers worked together to build solar houses and wind mills and had the opportunity to head outdoors to evaluate and measure the amounts of energy generated from each. Volunteers taught Club members about transformation of energy and how each of us can do our part to reduce energy consumption and pollutants to create a more sustainable environment.

West Palm Beach, FL, September 20, 2016 – Office Depot (NASDAQ: ODP), celebrating 30 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today announced a ribbon-cutting celebration for the grand re-opening of its newly remodeled store in West Palm Beach on Thursday, September 22, at 10:00 a.m. The store, which is located at 101a S. State Road 7, features Office Depot’s exciting new “Store of the Future” format. During this ceremony, the Office Depot Foundation is donating new children’s sackpacks with essential school supplies to three local nonprofit organizations: Boys and Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County; City of Greenacres, Department of Leisure Services; and Communities In Schools Palm Beach County. Each organization also will receive a $100 Office Depot gift card.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County was proclaimed the National Champion for the Zero Robotics National Competition for Middle Schools. The competition took place on August 12 at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, FL. The team from the Marjorie S. Fisher Boys & Girls Club entered the competition as the state champion, accompanied by The Naoma Donnelley Haggin Club of Delray Beach who had placed third, as their consulting team. A total of 12 teams across the country competed for the national title and Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County was the only Boys & Girls Clubs to enter this competition in the entire state of Florida. The organization had a total of four teams enter the competition with two of the teams placing in the top three at the state level.

As the nation’s No. 1 advocate for youth, BGCA has set bold goals to enable more kids to achieve a great future, including logging 4 billion hours of physical activity from Club kids and teens by 2018. The Boys & Girls Clubs of Palm Beach County decided to take up the challenge and on August 4, 2016, they had the first summer national fitness competition at Pioneer Park Elementary School in Belle Glade, FL. Over 350 Club members from Boca Raton, Wellington, West Palm Beach, Delray, Riviera Beach, and Belle Glade attended the event. The event was organized by the teen members and included an array of activities and presentations throughout the day. The objective of the National Fitness Challenge is to enable Clubs to host fitness competitions for kids and teen members, encourage a competitive spirit, and challenge members to achieve tangible fitness goals that will lead to healthy lifestyles.

Vinceremos Therapeutic Riding Center in Wellington has extended their Taking the Reins program to the Club members of Boys & Girls Clubs of Wellington throughout the summer as part of summer camp activities. This program utilizes horses to help develop communication and learning skills by highlighting the importance of listening, exercising clear communication, and building trusting relationships.

The Marjorie S. Fisher Club of West Palm Beach will be representing the state of Florida in the Zero Robotics National Competition for Middle Schools as the state winners. The National competition will take place on August 12 at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, FL. The Naoma Donnelley Haggin Club of Delray Beach placed third in the competition and will be accompanying the Marjorie S. Fisher team to the national competition as a consulting team.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Boca Raton served as the host site for the Clubs located in Palm Beach County. Tower Hill’s new program aims to introduce soccer to areas that may not currently offer it, giving kids a chance to learn and play the sport. The event took place from 9:30 A.M. to 3:30 P.M. with 24 teams totaling over 100 players participating in a 3v3 Soccer Tournament. Boys & Girls Club of Boca Raton won two divisions, the U10 and U 13 divisions.