Saturday morning 32 volunteers from the Dyess Air Force Base arrived at our Wylie Club to begin painting the gym walls and the upstairs game room.  Nancy Archibald provided the color schemes and the We Care Team provided some additional perks too.  Magnetic paint was applied to walls for displaying the kids artwork, school achievements, pictures, etc. and also chalkboard paint and dry erase paint was applied in areas as well to make the posting of messages for parents and kids easier for the staff.

The We Care Team will return on Saturday to finish the painting trim and to apply designs to the walls to further the accentuate the color schemes.  They have brought so much color to the gym and game room!  Thank you Dyess We Care Team!

Friday afternoon we had our first wave of dentists come to the Clubs to start the triage process of assessing what dental work will need to be done on our Club members.  Dentists gave a thorough exam and determined what work will be done on February 17th.   We are so grateful for the work the local dentist association does for our kids and as we start our 10th year in this project, we applaud them for the $300,000+ donated through goods and services to members of the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene!

If you have a smart phone then you know what this is so be watching for it on our brochures, newsletters, etc.

Nothing like cool technology…

The Boys & Girls Club of Abilene is truly blessed by our community and we have the kids express this through their personal art work. Picking a winner can be difficult but we do have four winners whose art work can be seen on the digital billboard off of Southwest Drive. Be looking for the following when you drive by!

Givan

Grace

Jada

Noel

Our latest newsletter is here! You can download it from here or if you would like to get a hard copy edition, you can email us at: markabgc@yahoo.com and put Mail Me Newsletter in the subject line and we will be sure you get on the mailing list.

Enjoy!

Newsletter Nov 2011

Picking up items to complete our quarterly newsletter, I listened with a smile on my face to the first official “Christmas Carol” being played over the speakers. We had just finished Halloween and are getting ready for Thanksgiving, and yet the Carol of the Bells was wafting through the air.

We had already gotten into the holiday spirit when our $8,000 check from the T & T Family Foundation came for our annual Christmas parties. Mrs. Lale Estes has been a major factor in this wonderful foundation bringing the joy of Christmas to every Club member. Since 2004 they have donated $65,000 towards giving the kids a tremendous Christmas party, complete with a bag of goodies for the holidays. Every child is guaranteed a wonderful present, courtesy of the T & T Family Foundation and Mrs. Lale!

The format has expanded to our Christmas parties covering multiple days including Christmas in the Country, Teen Night Skating Party, and then the final day of school party before the Christmas break. We have been giving the kids a new drawstring backpack every year and through the generosity of the donation, we are able to make sure they are high quality, durable, and cosmetically pleasing to the eye so the kids wear and use them with pride. Every bag comes with all sorts of goodies; treats, toys, games, and practical items too. It is always fun to be able to shop and plan wonderful activities for the kids at the Clubs!

Keep coming back as we will constantly bring you updates with the holiday magic at the Clubs!

We want to thank everyone who came out to support the Boys & Girls Club Golf Classic for Kids! We had 80 golfers and were able to raise some decent funds! Floyd Jones, Ed Rush, Brad Wilson, David Stovall, Kimberley Cole, Jerry Carter led the way to planning this year’s event and everyone had a great time. One comment I heard over and over was “Such an enjoyable tournament! Everyone is so relaxed and having a good time.” Absolutely! We hope if you played this year you will join us again next year and if you missed out, make plans now for Columbus Day 2012!

Enjoy the pictures from the tournament!

First Place Team

Second Place Team

Third Place Team

Our Golf Chairman and his team

Our friends from the Mental Health Association

Our friends from NextEra Energy

Suspicious Characters...

Golf committee member Jerry Carter and his team

Two of our illustrious volunteers!

Golf Goodie Bag King (Ed Rush) and the Tom's Tire World team

Even more suspicious characters...

Kickball Champions for 2011!

It was a great day of kids playing, competing, and all of the Clubs brought competitive teams! It was great to see kids work together as they sought a central purpose; to win the bragging rights to kickball! The Nelson Girls team was comprised of Highland girls as well to fill out the full team. How great is it to see competitors working together on one team! Great work kids! All of you were excellent!

This week at the Clubs we are getting ready for our participation in the National Day of Play. We have selected Kickball as our “get out and play” sport and the clubs are putting together teams for a tournament on Friday, 4:30 p.m., September 23rd, at our Fannin Club. We will be having two divisions; Boys & Girls.

Come out and support your Club and root your team on!

Mark it on your calendars!  Next Friday afternoon, September 23rd at 4:30 p.m., the Boys & Girls Club of Abilene branches will meet on the kickball fields at Fannin and duel until there is a winner!  Each Club will be bringing a Girl Team and a Boy Team.  Simple rules:

3 Innings

10 run rule for each inning

Teams have to have at least 5 players who are third grade or lower

This is a sudden death shoot out

Traveling Trophies will be awarded to the winning Clubs for them to display until they defend their title the next time they meet on the field.

The National Day of Play is a nation wide effort by Boys & Girls Club of America to get kids out and play!  We have chosen kickball as our venue to get the kids out and play.  Come and join us!

Fannin Club is located at 1902 Shelton.