MESSAGE FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KAHLIL DIAB:

On March 12, 2020, two days before our 2020 Gala and with a building full of children already facing pressing challenges and adversity, the Club made the difficult decision to close the building to kids and cancel the event due to the onset of the COVID 19 Pandemic. The Club is relied on by youth of all backgrounds in the Joliet and surrounding communities for a variety of services, including academic tutoring, mentoring, meal service, and proven high yield activities. The majority of our members reside in homeless shelters, are in the foster care system, or come from single parent homes below the poverty line, so fully ceasing services was simply not an option.

Roughly 75% of the Clubs projected revenue for 2020 was essentially erased or uncertain, so the staff immediately went into high gear and the Club shifted the mission to direct emergency response and distribution mode, in order to provide critical services to Joliet community youth. Through a partnership with the Northern IL Food Bank, the Club was quickly able to begin grab & go meal service to the community via curbside pickup. The Club then utilized a partnership with The United Way of Will County to serve as the Joliet East Side distribution site for PPE during the initial shortage and did the same for essential hygiene products and family items.

This was PHASE 1 of our response. As we approached the Summer months, the Club shifted into PHASE 2 of the response, by leveraging corporate partners for funding and adding programmatic elements to the initial emergency response protocols. The Club was able to partner with T-Mobile, who sponsored the entire 2020 Alternative Summer Session, the first of its kind at BGC Joliet. Staff quickly developed a plan of action for programming and unveiled a multi-faceted alternative model that blends direct hands on activities, via a weekly activity kit, interactive videos of Club staff, and telephone/Zoom mentoring. The blended approach was necessary because a large number of the Clubs members come from the District 86 school district and would not receive take-home laptops until the Fall of 2020.

We then added academic components to the blended Summer programming model, which would become our 2020/21 Alternative Fall/Winter program, utilizing elements of the Summer model, but with the addition of virtual tutoring and academic reinforcement modules. To ease the burden for clients, all membership dues for any type of programming or initiative in 2020 was 100% waived, so that all youth in the community could participate.

The results of these initial efforts garnered community and corporate support for BGC Joliet, positioning the Club to enter PHASE 3 of the response, which is currently on-going and featured a safe and seamless re-opening of the physical Club facility (in accordance with municipal and state health guidelines) in March as an E-Learning Support Center for District 86 students and will now shift into a re-opening of our popular Summer Session, which features the only youth dedicated swimming pool on the East side of Joliet.

The G.W. Buck Boys & Girls Club is ready, willing, and able to ensure that all youth reach their full potential as productive, caring, and responsible citizens and we look forward to another strong year of service, as we continue to encourage our youth to fight through adversity and find their GREAT future.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!