Boys and Girls
Club celebrates
19 years of dedication to Oakland
youth
By Felicia Purcell-McDaniel,
Globe Sports Editor
The Boys
and Girls Club of Oakland recently hosted its
19th annual Salute to Youth Dinner and Benefit
Auction at the Greek Orthodox Church.
The event was hosted by former NBA player and current Golden
State Warriors color commentator Jim Barnett.
Olympian gymnast Dominique Dawes,
who became the first African American to win a gold medal in the sport in 1996,
served as the featured speaker.
“I am a big supporter of any organization
that’s really about focusing on empowering young people to be all that
they can be,” she said. “The Boys and Girls Clubs of America epitomize
that.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Oakland has a long, positive history
in the Bay Area, where it provides an outlet for youth with activities, mentoring,
sports and education.
Boys and Girls Club of Oakland President Calvester Stanley
said that the club works to help “our young people … gain knowledge,
develop positive behavior, skills, values and motivation.”
Many well
known athletes such as former Major League Baseball player and ESPN analyst
Joe Morgan have come through the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland.
“It
has been a good experience for me,” said graduating senior and club junior
staffer Tonisha Hadnot of Farwest High School.
She plans to attend Laney College
in the fall and said she hopes to someday be a doctor, lawyer or interior designer.
Chris Kerr, a student at the School for the Arts, also works at the Anna Marie
Whalen club branch as a junior staffer. Kerr has been involved with the organization
since he was in grade school.
“I love working there,” he said.
The graduating senior will attend Cal State Dominiguez in the fall.
Ocie Parks,
25, a product of Fremont High, started as a club kid and worked her way up
as a junior staff member. She received a track and field scholarship to Fresno
State through the Boys and Girls Club.
“I love it, I love the kids,” said
Parks of her involvement with the club. “It keeps kids off the streets,
and it also opens the doors for them.”
During the event, Oakland Tech
senior Nicolas Gordon was presented with the 2008 Youth of the Year award.
Gordon has a 3.2 GPAin his college prep honors classes and works as a senior
mentor at the club’s Leonard J. Meltzer branch, where he helps ninth
graders who are struggling academically or socially.
In the fall, he will attend
Wilberforce Academy in Wilberforce, Ohio. He plans to major in music and psychology.
For more information about the Boys and Girls Club of Oakland, visit www.bgcoakland.org or call (510) 444-8211.
