There are lots of things happening here at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa! Check out this archive of club news. Newer articles appear at the top.



Boys and Girls Club Youth Get Down and Dirty with Gardening
May 26, 2010

Members of the Ellis I. Levitt Boys and Girls Club have partnered with the Des Moines Botanical and Environmental Center on a Community Gardening project. The Community Gardens are composed of twenty 10x10 plots located at the Botanical Center.

The members of the Boys and Girls Club who are helping with the project are part of Earth Heroes, a program that connects youth with nature.

“The youth have been actively involved in every aspect of the project.” said Chris Bowman, Boys and Girls Club staff.

The Earth Heroes began work on the project over a month ago when they planted seeds at the Botanical Center greenhouses. Currently, they have been filling the plots with compost, which isn't an easy job.
Read more...

Boys and Girls Club grows with 'Shakespearience'
April 27, 2010

Youth participants in the Boys and Girls Club's Theatre Club had a "Shakespearience" recently by performing a "Romeo and Juliet" tableau with a master teaching actor.

On Wednesday, the club also hosted an Iowa Shakespeare Experience performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" by the National Players, the oldest touring Shakespeare theater company in America.

The Iowa Shakespeare Experience, home of Des Moines' free Shakespearience Festival, is expanding its successful youth programming through mid-July in connection with a partnership with Metro Arts Alliance under funding from Bravo Greater Des Moines and the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines.
Read more...

Boys and Girls Clubs honor senior at Hoover
April 13, 2010

Officials say Kadashia Madison is a respected role model for younger students and for her peers. Kadashia Madison, 18, a senior at Hoover High School, has been named the 2010 Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa Youth of the Year.

The annual award is the highest honor a Boys and Girls Club member can receive. Madison was chosen for her leadership abilities and willingness to serve the club and the community.

Her journey with the Boys and Girls Club began in fifth grade at Grace Community Church, where she viewed the opportunity to be involved with the Boys and Girls Club as something to do in her spare time and a positive place to meet new people. Read more...

Local Kiwanians Volunteer with Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa
April 10, 2010

Pappajohns honored for their 'clear vision', win Iowa Star award
February 11, 2010

[...] The Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa was recognized with the Register's Aurora Award, given to central Iowa institutions for their community contributions.

Board President Feisal Sayeed and Executive Director Sam Carrell accepted a $1,000 check and a plaque for the organization.

The clubs serve youths ages 5 to 18 by providing after-school programs, as well as all-day programs during school breaks. Youths can participate in supervised and self-directed activities designed to help them become successful adults.

The organization has more than 2,200 members and serves another 5,000 youths through its outreach efforts. In 2009, Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa scored among the highest of United Way agencies for its effectiveness.

"There are so many great stories of the youth that we consider our clients, our audience," Sayeed said. "To have individuals succeed in life for the few times we touch them is credit to our unit directors and staff.

"Everyone was well deserved. It's humbling to have received this award," he said. Read more...

Star, Aurora award finalists announced
January 31, 2010

The couple that brought Des Moines a downtown sculpture garden and a group that strives to provide legal assistance and education to low-income Iowans are among the finalists for The Des Moines Register's annual Iowa Star and Aurora Awards.

John and Mary Pappajohn, Renee Hardman, Kyle and Sharon Krause, Rick Tollakson and Kenneth Quinn are all finalists for the Iowa Star, which recognizes individuals who "promote unity and self-sufficiency for all, without regard to race, gender or age," in central Iowa.

Iowa Legal Aid, Goodwill Industries of Central Iowa, Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa, Anawim Housing and Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa are finalists for the Aurora, given to organizations or institutions in central Iowa that make "a measurable difference in the community without thought to awards or public recognition." Read more...

Bags with swag are yours for the bidding
October 5, 2009

	Suzie Glazer Burt shows off a fancy little bag. (JAMES D. FIDLER/THE REGISTER)

Picture carrying a black evening bag with rhinestones to your next charity event and being able to brag that it is signed by Julie Andrews.

Yes, that Julie Andrews.

Michelle Griswell of Des Moines carried the purse, owned by charity diva and Old Bags chair Suzie Glazer Burt, to an event honoring her husband, Barry, in New York City. By chance, Griswell sat next to Andrews. She pulled out the purse (in which Burt had stashed a Sharpie) and asked Andrews to sign it.

You can bid on that little black bag at the Old Bags event that benefits the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa starting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday. Tickets are still available for the charity event.

If you're not keen on Andrews, then bid on a hot pink silk beaded evening bag with fireflies, owned, signed and donated by Des Moines native and actress Cloris Leachman. Leachman donated the purse when she visited Des Moines earlier this year. Read more...

The Principal Charity Classic Awards $500,000 to Local Charities
September 16, 2009

	Club Kids celebrate $500,000 raised for children's charities at the Principal Charity Classic

At a time when the need for charitable services is running high, representatives of The Principal Charity Classic® today announced the 2009 tournament raised $500,000 to benefit area children`s charities. With the eager assistance of eight kids from Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa, the announcement was made at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa, site of the annual PGA Champions Tour tournament. The Principal Charity Classic is sponsored by the Principal Financial Group®.

"The 2009 Principal Charity Classic was a tremendous success, attracting a record crowd of 71,000. We`re very gratified by the level of support for children`s charities-especially in the face of such a tough economy-and we`re excited about next year`s tournament," said Larry Zimpleman, chairman, president and CEO of The Principal®. The 2010 Principal Charity Classic will be held May 31 - June 6 at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines. Read more...

Theater-based project helps kids use drama to identify and sort through personal issues
July 30, 2009

	JANET KLOCKENGA/THE REGISTER

A local group is using drama to help build self-esteem, strengthen problem-solving skills and improve social interaction in young people.

Annie Mielke and Joe Parrish founded Adventures in Social Drama in April 2007 as a series of theater-based workshops for individuals with autism and related conditions. The group now has branched out and works with other children not touched by autism.

Members are working on an eight-week project, "Theatre for Social Change," sponsored in part by Bravo Greater Des Moines in collaboration with Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa and Girl Scouts of Greater Iowa. The production, a series of vignettes written by the young participants, will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Des Moines Social Club, 1408 Locust St. Read more...

Drake neighborhood garden just keeps growing
July 30, 2009

	JANET KLOCKENGA/THE REGISTER

Ricki King wanted to grow a garden that would produce the ingredients needed to make salsa.

Sandra Jamison craved a way to relax after the children she cares for are in school and child care.

Eddie Robinson Jr. and Rose Scott hoped to bond with their neighbors and create something meaningful and lasting in their neighborhood.

So they all got together and grew a garden. The Drake Neighborhood Association and Drake University sponsor the community, organic garden on 27th Street just south of University Avenue. The project, begun about 2000, has more than 35 plots that are planted and tended by a diverse group of individuals and families.

A couple of sisters from Liberia are growing vegetables in their space. About 10 children with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa are raising tomatoes and basil next to marigolds on the north side of the lot. A group of Hispanic men are growing the vegetables and herbs they use in their native dishes on the south side. Read more...

Local Music Program Remembers Jackson
July 7, 2009

Michael Jackson's reach spanned generations. Proof of his popularity can be found at the Boys and Girls Club located at the Logan Community Center in Des Moines.

Creator Rick Galbreath has worked in the music industry and between his own equipment and equipment purchased through grant money, Des Moines area kids can now create and record their own industry quality music.

Galbreath has shown the group Mchael Jackson's concert footage to show them what can be accomplished through hard work in any career. Galbreath says despite the pop star's personal problems his story can be used to teach his kids. Read more...

Money Savers: Boys & Girls Club Taste Test
July 2, 2009

Some items at the grocery store taste the same, they just look different because of the packaging. On average, thrifty shoppers can save 10% to 30% on groceries by buying generic labels instead of name brands. But how will they hold up in a side by side taste?

"The store brands have been used a lot more lately because they're obviously cheaper, but they do compare as far as quality and taste," says Hy-Vee Dietitian Heather Illg. She says while kids only care about taste, parents are more concerned about cost and convenience.

We filled our cart with two of everything on our kid-friendly meal- one store brand and one name brand item. Buying generic string cheese, crackers, pizza and cookies saved us $4. We served ten hungry kids at the First Christian Boys and Girls Club in Des Moines to see if the store brands tasted as good as the name brands. Our taste testers liked the Hy-Vee string cheese over Sargento's while Triscuits came out on top of the store's wheat cracker. The kids picked the more expensive Jack's pizza and for dessert, the generic chocolate chip cookie scored higher than Nabisco's Chips Ahoy. Read more...

Des Moines area golf outing raises $60,000 for charities
June 29, 2009

The 16th annual O'Donnell and Friends Open at Toad Valley Golf Course this year raised some $60,000 for Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa and Shoes that Fit. The open, which started as an outing for a group of family members and their friends, has raised just less than a half million dollars over the years for area charities. Jim O'Donnell, spokesman for the family, said money raised in other years has gone to organizations such as Link Associates, Hospice of Central Iowa, Camp Sunnyside, Orchard Place, Kavanaugh House, Ronald McDonald House, Alzheimers Association, American Diabetes and the Special Olympics. Read more...

Earth Day fun breaks out on the east side
May 7, 2009

A hot sun, outdoor games and a rock 'n' roll band made for the perfect afternoon April 22 at the Levitt Boys and Girls Club, 705 E. University Ave., where about 250 children gathered to enjoy Earth Day. The U.S. Navy's Horizon band performed for a couple hours behind the club, where children cheered, danced and ran off their energy on the playground. Seven members of the band, based at the Great Lakes naval base near Chicago, played to the delight of the crowd. Read more...

Botanical Center garden project sows promise
May 5, 2009

The Des Moines Botanical Center is turning a new leaf with a gardening project designed to integrate surrounding neighborhoods and educate children. The center's community gardening project is a collaboration with the Ellis I. Levitt Boys and Girls Club. With help from the children and community members, the botanical center cleaned up a formerly run down area of the property between the parking lot and Interstate Highway 235 and installed 20 garden beds. The gardens will be cared for by neighborhood families and groups from the Boys and Girls Club. "It's just the most exciting thing that's happened here," said Elvin McDonald, director of Friends of the Des Moines Botanical Center. Read more...

Program gives teens career advice, possible Hy-Vee job
April 25, 2009

For Justin Edwards, 18, participating in the Hy-Vee Academy last summer taught him skills for getting a job and landed him part-time work as a bagger at the company's Euclid Avenue supermarket. For Wes Snook, store manager of Hy-Vee Inc.'s Ankeny location, the program allowed him to give back to the community, help attract a more diverse work force to the company and better understand the situations some of the applicants who apply to work at his location may face. Entering its third year, the Hy-Vee Academy, a joint venture between Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa and Hy-Vee, is designed to give teenagers in the club practical career knowledge, such as how to look for jobs, fill out an application and interview with a potential employer. At the end of the program, students have a chance to apply and interview for a position with one of the 10 Hy-Vee store managers who teach the class. Read more...

	Executive Director Sam Carrell thanks Staples for partnering with the Boys & Girls Clubs

On March 25th, 2009, Staples celebrated the grand opening of their new store at 3800 Merle Hay Rd., Des Moines. During the ceremony, General Manager, Bob Hingtgen, proudly presented the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa and Executive Director, Sam Carrell, with a check for $1,500. Staples is a leading nationwide corporation who recognizes the importance of the work of the Clubs. They are a caring corporate citizen who has partnered with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa to find innovative ways to help our Central Iowa youth reach their full potential. We are honored to have a partnership with Staples and together, work to inspire and enable all of our young people on to success.

Rusty van becomes trusty work of art, thanks to the talents of a dozen teens
March 6, 2009

Call it art on the go. Twelve kids with the Logan Boys & Girls Club on the city's east side worked hard this winter to create moving art. Their project took the form of a donated Ford Econoline van given to the club by Variety - The Children's Charity of Iowa. Working under the direction of Des Moines artist Mark Scheuermann, the teens airbrushed local scenes all over the van, which will be used as a transportation vehicle for the children of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa. On Friday evening, the club had an open house to unveil its new Art Car, which holds 15 passengers. The project was a partnership of the club and pARTners Unlimited, an arts program that works with at-risk youth. Read more...

BGCCI Art Car Information

Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa Receives $25,000 in Grants from Prairie Meadows

Des Moines, IA – Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa has received two grants totaling $25,000 from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino through its 2008 Community Betterment Grant Program. Grant funds will help Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa in expanding existing health, fitness and recreation programs through the creation of an evidence-based health program: CATCH Club. Targeting children and youth ages 5 to 18, CATCH (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) Club teaches Club members how to be healthy for a lifetime by promoting nutritional and physical activities into after-school and summer enrichment programs. Additionally, grant funds will enable Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa to promote and support the use of bicycles for safe and healthy recreation and transportation through the creation of a “Bike Club”. Children and youth receive educational outreach, fun ride events, instruction on the maintenance of bikes and through a partnership with the Des Moines Bike Cooperative the opportunity to earn and even build their own bike. The Prairie Meadows Grants Advisory Committee, comprised of education, religious and business leaders from the greater metro area, review all grant requests and recommends funding levels. “We are extremely pleased to have received this funding from Prairie Meadows this year,” said Sam Carrell, Executive Director. “These funds will help us to take action in changing the health outcomes of those we serve. While sports, fitness and recreation have always been core program components, a more systematic and coordinated approach is needed to prevent and decrease childhood overweight and obesity.” Prairie Meadows Community Betterment Grants are given to projects in one of four categories: arts & culture, economic development, education, and human services. Since 1996, Prairie Meadows has contributed more than $399 million to promote education, economic development, agriculture, jobs and tourism in Iowa.

Subaru Share the Love Event

Hi I’m Tom Carey – President of Ramsey Auto. This holiday season Subaru is happy to give back. Through January 2nd, you can get the best deal of the year on any new 2009 Subaru, and Subaru will donate $250 to your choice of five charities, plus an additional $50 from Ramsey. So come in to our new Ramsey Subaru showroom on the Hickman Auto Mile, and test drive a new Subaru today. Because giving back feels good – Share the Love!

The holiday revue provides musicians a chance for a spotlight
November 28, 2008

Bow and Arrow Productions, a stage production company based in Des Moines, has had its fair share of big shows. It lit up stages for Keith Urban at the Sydney Opera House, Andrea Bocelli in Rome and Bon Jovi in Honolulu, Hawaii. But soon the company and several of its partners will shine their spotlights on musicians from central Iowa. The team of technicians will spend the next week decking the Scottish Rite Consistory with speakers, lights and a handful of high-tech tinsel for the third annual "Jingle Bell Bash," a musical revue with singers, a 20-piece orchestra, dancers and a few members of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Iowa. Read more...

Kids Work to Improve Reading Skills
November 14, 2008

Andrea James, 7, of Des Moines' east side sounds out her words Tuesday during a Jacobson Academy class at the Boys and Girls Club in Des Moines. The Jacobson Academy is a program that helps students with their reading language skills. Read more...

Student makes volunteering part of lifestyle
November 8, 2008

It was an unseasonably warm Friday afternoon, the kind of late fall day when college students can normally be found flinging Frisbees and relaxing in lawn chairs on their front yards. Calli Copoulos, though, had a previous engagement, one she couldn't imagine breaking. The 20-year-old Drake University junior sat in the middle of a flower-print sofa at the Boys and Girls Club on the fourth floor of First Christian Church, an open book on her lap. Read more...

Prairie Meadows Gives Back $245,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa
Summer 2008

Prairie Meadows has been a strong supporter of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Iowa through $245,000 in grant funding awarded since 1996. A $150,000 Prairie Meadows Legacy Grant awarded in 2007 helped to remodel the Logan Community Site at 1740 E. Garfield Avenue in Des Moines to serve both youth and elderly programs in the same structure. Read more...

School Supports Children and their Families for All-Around Success
Summer 2008

It's a little after 3 o'clock, and the halls at George Washington Carver Community School in the Des Moines Public School district are filled with students. The bustle is typical for any school, yet what's unusual is the number of students - some 600 to 700 - who pass through the halls on a given day. Read more...

Historic Partnership to Build Community School at Longfellow
September 2006

Des Moines Schools, Boys & Girls Club
Lead Groundbreaking Ceremony

Des Moines- A groundbreaking partnership involving Des Moines Public Schools, the Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa, and other prominent supporters will build a 21st Century Community School and Boys & Girls Club at the site of the current Longfellow Elementary at East University and Pennsylvania Avenue. An announcement of the partnership and construction kickoff are scheduled for Friday, September 9, 2:00 p.m. at the future site of the school.

The new community school at the Longfellow site will replace Longfellow Elementary and Wallace Elementary schools and provide a first class school environment for students combined with Boys & Girls Club facilities right at the school. The $14.2 million construction project is funded by Schools First local option sales tax dollars combined with significant funds contributed by the Boys & Girls Club. The school and club will be open for students in fall 2007.

Partners along with the Boys & Girls Club include Iowa Health System, Iowa Lutheran Auxiliary, City of Des Moines, City of Des Moines Parks & Recreation, and the Capitol Park Neighborhood Association.

Among those expected to attend the announcement along with Des Moines school board members and Superintendent Eric Witherspoon is Principal Financial Group CEO J. Barry Griswell. Griswell is a Boys & Girls Club alumnus and serves as Honorary Chair of the capital campaign to raise funds to help build, furnish, and endow the Club facility at the school. Suzie Glazer Burt and Mike Frazier are Co-chairs of the Boys & Girls Club fundraising effort.

The Des Moines Public Schools- Boys & Girls Club partnership is unique to Iowa and modeled after similar successful partnerships in Milwaukee and four other cities. The school will serve approximately 500 students and the Club an estimated 350 young people.