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The Youth of the Year Banquet was held Tuesday, May 1st at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.  Local and state dignitaries were on hand to honor Laramie Glynn, the 2011 Boys and Girls Club of Benton County Youth of the Year.

The Youth of the Year is and outstanding youth who has overcome adversity to achieved school success, served their community, and be a positive model for other youth.  Laramie was chosen through a rigorous selection process.  Laramie is a member of the HLM Teen Unit where she served as an officer of the Keystone Club – a service learning, leadership program. She is now a junior at Bentonville High School.  At school she has participated in the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America and is a past treasurer.  She has plans to continue her education after graduating to pursue a degree in international business.

Great futures are begin at the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County and to celebrate this, the Club hosted its annual Great Futures Gala on April 20. Held at the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers, the Gala was sponsored by Unilever. Joe Grady, Vice President of Candy and Impulse Merchandising for Walmart, served as honorary chairman of the event.

Nearly 500 people attended the gala. The evening kicked off with a social hour and VIP wine tasting.  After a silent auction and dinner, children from the local clubs came onstage to talk about what they want to be when they grow up. Their “great futures” included everything from being a taxi driver to a doctor. A live auction included use of the Cox Communications suite for a Northwest Arkansas Naturals game and a five-night stay for 12 in a French chateau. The party carried into the night with dancing to the music of Ultra Suede.
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Roughly 30 teens and 8 families attended the April 19th Ice Cream Social held at the HLM Teen Unit.  The event was planned and sponsored by the HLM Parent Committee.  The parents served ice cream to our teens and families.   Ice cream was available with just about whatever topping you could want on top from fruit, candy, cookies, sprinkles, to fudge and caramel.

On March 2, 2012 the Rogers Unit of the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County participated in the national Read Across America Day.  Ninety-seven children, ages 6-14, celebrated Dr. Seuss’ birthday by reading simultaneously. While reading, they wore hats to pay tribute to Dr. Seuss.  After reading, they culminated the event by saying “Happy Birthday” to this great American author.

On Saturday, March 3rd, Boys and Girls Club of Benton County mentors and their mentored youth in the  Be Great Graduate program spent the morning volunteering at the Samaritan Community Center.  Together they completed several projects, including packing snack packs and organizing and stocking the food pantry.  This was a great way for youth and their mentors to spend quality time together working side by side in service to their community.

Be Great Graduate is a program that provides a mentor for kids that are “at risk” for dropping out of high school.  By providing them a mentor these same kids have a substantially greater chance of being successful in school and graduating!

Twenty-nine members of the Keystone Club from the Rogers and HLM Boys and Girls Club facilities went to Joplin, MO to help beautify the city.  The Club partnered with AmeriCorp, the National Civilian Community Corps, and Wildcat Glades Conservation and Audubon Center.  The clean-up initiative was part of Joplin’s community-wide environmental awareness day.  The teens helped remove invasive plant species, picked up trash in the conservation area, and provided trail maintenance.

Colton Wood (left) 11, and Tanner Myers, 10, both of Bentonville play on a motion-activated video game system at the Carl and Alleen McKinney Unit of the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2012. The boys participate in the Social Recreation program that is part of the of the after-school activities offered at the club.
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Chloe Edwards, an 11 year old from our Bella Vista Unit, represented the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County in the State Finals “Hoop Shoot” put on each year by the Elks Lodge. They traveled to Hot Springs for this event. We are very proud of Chloe who came in 9th place out of 25 contestants.

The 6th annual Texas Hold’em tournament sponsored by Unilever took place January 29th, at the Bentonville Plaza. Over 100 participants competed in the tournament and $15,500 was raised to help underwrite the costs of providing programs and services to the club’s youth. Bill Towler was the winner of the tournament and took home the grand prize which was a 47″ LG LED 3D TV with 3D Blue-ray and glasses. The other winners at the final table also walked away with some great prizes such as a 32GB iPad, Naturals basket, Kindle Fire, digital camera and more.  A special thanks to Unilever, Abuelo’s, Bentonville Plaza, Beam Global, N.E.W.,  Jarden, Arvest, Anheuser Busch, Hormel Foods, Breyers Ice Cream, Celebrate Magazine, Cumulus Radio  for helping to make the event a success.

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The Boys & Girls Club of Benton County recently received an entire tractor-trailer load of paper products from Kimberly-Clark, a long time supporter of the Club. The donation of nearly 700 cases is valued at nearly $20,000. According to Jacob Hutson, Chief Professional Officer for the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County, “With the recent announcement of lost funding from a state grant, this donation could not come at a better time to help save on costs of having to purchase these items for our four Club sites. We are so thankful for the longtime support that Kimberly-Clark has provided to the Club over the years.” Stephen Beringer, Vice President of Sam’s Club Customer Development for Kimberly-Clark and also serves of the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County Board of Directors, said Kimberly-Clark is proud of both our national and local relationship with The Boys and Girls Club. During these difficult economic times, the value of “giving” is even more important. This gift of Scott Towels and Viva Towels is another great example of how we can help the club and its members. This product will help defray operating costs of the four Benton County clubs, and let’s face it, kids get dirty, so they need a lot of paper towels to help clean up! We are proud of our relationship with the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County, and are glad we can help!”