Dear friends,
From a pandemic to murder hornets to sharks at the beach, this has been a year of surprises... many of them unpleasant. But today, I’m excited to share with you a happy surprise.
In late July, we learned that Grenville Baker’s Diverse Unity Keystone Club, our teen-led community service program, competed against applicants from across the country and won national recognition for exemplifying outstanding service and leadership efforts all during the year.
In typical times, our teens would have travelled as a group to attend the Boys and Girls Club of America conference, where the winner of this contest would have been announced in front of hundreds of peers, staff, and volunteers. However, like other large gatherings, the national conference went virtual, and the kids missed the chance to travel and to experience the excitement of a live event.
That said, the staff at GBBGC wasn’t going to let this occasion pass without the attention it deserved. In fact, we learned ahead of time that our Keystone Club was to receive an award, and wanted to make this moment as special as possible for our teens...so we planned a little fanfare of our own!
On the day of the conference, we invited the teens to a socially-distanced, in-person gathering at the clubhouse to watch the livestream when the winners were revealed.
What you are about to watch is their pure delight and pride at learning that they had won the top prize of “Keystone Club of the Year!”
