Why worm farming, you might ask? The Boys & Girls Club is the proud caretaker of 10,000 and more super and standard red wiggler worms.  Steven Blair is the whisperer, and B&GC staff member Whit Caulkins works with Blair and the youth, to keep the worms well-hydrated and happy.

The worms were acquired last fall as a part of Project Grows, a multi-partnership between Augusta Health, the Boys & Girls Club, the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, the Department of Social Services, Head Start, Mary Baldwin College, the Central Shenandoah Office on Youth, Virginia Cooperative Extension and the Valley Community Services Board, working to help to reduce childhood obesity in Staunton, Waynesboro and Augusta County.

Land has been acquired from Augusta County to start gardens in the Verona area for the project.

Caulkins says the youth have helped with the worms by going upstairs, where the worms are presently living in their worm hotel, and helping to maintain them by feeding them a diet of shredded paper and compostable vegetable waste. The worms recycle that waste and paper into worm castings – ideal for the new gardens that will start this spring.  While the initial purchase was for 10,000 worms, that number is also growing as the worms grow and reproduce.

Future plans for the worms include a few being relocated to the gardens and some may possibly be sold at the Virginia Fly Fishing Festival or other related events as PR for the B&GC and Project Grows.

“The worms,” Caulkins says, “were more a way to get the kids interested and learning something about composting than for use at the garden site.”

Future plans are that Project Grows will help provide a learning experience for area youth about where tomatoes and other vegetables really come from and to experience what truly “fresh” vegetables taste like.

It is hoped that growing and tasting fresh vegetables will encourage their consumption and a reduction of the growing epidemic of childhood obesity which can lead to diabetes and other health-related illnesses.

It started with an idea from a young man named Jeffrey Bowers at the Boys & Girls Club. He attended the National Youth Venture Summit in Orlando and thought there should be a video on bullying.

That idea grew. Cynthia Pritchard, executive director of the United Way of Greater Augusta, says, “Jeremiah Jordan contacted our office about an internship and loved the concept, and that came hand in hand with the receipt of the funding to do the video.”

Funding for the project came from the Waynesboro Kiwanis Club and the Gannett Foundation.

“We contacted the Boys and Girls club and partnered on the project,” continues Pritchard. Youth from the B&GC are the players and star in simulated bullying situations.

Did you know that an estimated 160,000 children miss school every day because of a fear they will be attacked or intimidated by other children?  One in seven students in grades K-12 is either a bully or a victim of bullying. Ninety percent of fourth- through sixth-graders have reported they are victims of bullying.

- Statistics from the National Education Association

The Boys and Girls Club presents great options and multiple choices for area youth.  Youth of the Month winners enjoy sports, playing and power hour but the favorite option among them seems to be “we get to play.”  Mariela Ruiz (8years old) attends Berkley Glenn and says she really likes to play.  She was the December Youth of the Month for ages 6 and 7 – the perfect age to have the opportunity to play in a safe and supervised environment.

For Kourtney Smith (10 years old), December ages 10 and 11 youth, when asked what she liked best answered, “I guess that we get to play.” Kourtney attends Westwood Hills and can light up the room with her smile.  Nine-year-old Resun Stevenson attends Wenonah and says quietly that she likes “Knockout and playing softball.”  Resun was the December 8- and 9-year-old Youth of the Month.

For ages 12 and up, Kate Collins student Davon Dalenta says he has been coming to the Boys and Girls Club since he was 6years old.  He likes “hanging out with my friends, playing basketball and power hour (sometimes).”  Power hour, he says “is when we do homework.”  He also admits “I like PlayStation 3.”

Youths of the Month

 
Above Left: Resun Stevenson. Above Right: Kourtney Smith

It was a cold January day, but it was also a Friday afternoon, and the youngsters at the Boys & Girls Club were getting restless.

Going outside on this wintry day wouldn’t mean basketball, as it usually does on the blacktop courts off East Main Street.

Waynesboro High School soccer players Eric Chandler and Matthew Burns were on hand to begin a new program aimed at teaching Club members the “beautiful game.”

“We’re here to expose the Boys & Girls Club to soccer, something that we grew up with, we love, to get them doing it, too. It’s a lot of fun,” said Burns, who coached one group of Club members, The Dominators, they called themselves, through a few drills before running a series of scrimmages.

Boys & Girls Club board president Tom Hardiman also serves on the board of directors of the Augusta Football Club. Hardiman asked Boys & Girls Club executive director Tyrell McElroy to cross-check the membership lists of both organizations, and found that there were only five children who were members of both.

“What we want to do long-term is help bridge that gap and get more kids at the Boys & Girls Club exposed to the game of soccer,” said Hardiman, before joining Chandler and Burns in taking part in drills and the scrimmages.

Hardiman at one point asked the group how many of them had played soccer before. A few hands went up; just as many asked if they could play basketball when they were done kicking around the soccer ball.

“We’ve still got some work to do here,” Hardiman said.

Soccer is “a great game,” he said. “It can help teach them about fitness, teamwork, leadership skills. We think it’s a good fit to bridge that gap.”

The Boys & Girls Club of Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County raised more than $15,000 through its annual holiday raffle.

The Club marked the raffle on Saturday, Dec. 5, with a new twist – a Holiday Open House that invited members and their families to the Waynesboro Club location for arts and crafts, snacks and visits with Santa.

“We’re trying to reach out to the community and bring families into the Club,” Club Board member Emily Lucente said.

For Club President Tom Hardiman, involvement in the local Club is payback for positive experiences as a youth member.

The Boys & Girls Club “made a huge impact on my life,” Hardiman said, “and I know it’s making an impact on the young people in our community.”

“We like to say our slogan is, Great Futures Start Here. We’re looking for the community to help us help these youth in our community,” Hardiman said.

What are you most thankful for this Thanksgiving? That was the question we posed to several members of the Boys & Girls Club in Waynesboro this week.

“I’d have to say … well, my parents., because they’re very helpful. They care for me and all that … and my brother and my sister. They’re, like, there for me and stuff like that. I like how they’re always there for me. My mom and stepdad are always helping out with each other, making a team. We’re strong together. My family members, all together we’re strong,” said Tylik Mawyer, 12, a student at Kate Collins Middle School.

“I’m thankful for God because he’s the one that made all of us, and He’s the one that made this Boys & Girls Club. And I love the Boys & Girls Club,” said Rachel Obiro, 8, a student at Westwood Elementary School.

“I’m most thankful for my family … how my mom and dad love me, and how they take care of me and my little brother,” said Re’sun Stevenson, 9, a student at Wenonah Elementary.

“My family, and the people who give me the stuff for Thanksgiving. And my brothers. And my mom and my dad,” said Michaela Williams, 8, a student at Wenonah.

“I’m thankful for my family and my friends. And my three brothers and my sister,” said Shiona Hodgins, 9, also a student at Wenonah.

“Turkey! Turkey, stuffing and the rest of the food. Mostly my mom,” said Aalayah Hubbard, 8, a student at Berkeley Glenn Elementary.

A $10,000 grant from Best Buy will go toward the installation of a new Technology Center at the Boys & Girls Club in Waynesboro.

The grant, through Best Buy’s At 15 program, which is focused on community programs aimed at teens and adolescents, is the second in as many years to go to the Club from Best Buy, said Chris Ashby, the director of logistics at Best Buy in Staunton.

“We feel very, very fortunate that we’re able to work with the Boys & Girls Club again this year and provide them with funding,” Ashby said.

Joe Pittman headed up the review committee at the local Best Buy distribution center. He said the committee was focused this year on working with programs “that directly help the youth and try to tie the youth to technology.”

“Technology is a bigger part of children’s lives today. To have this program available for local area youth is hopefully going to have a big impact,” Pittman said.

Club Executive Director Ty McElroy said the money will go toward the purchase of new computers and related equipment for the Technology Center at the Club.

“Hopefully the products that we purchase will last several years into the future,” McElroy said.

The Open House will feature arts and crafts, pictures with Santa, cookies and hot chocolate, displays of ornaments made by Club members that will be made available for sale, and a reverse raffle featuring a $7,000 grand prize.

The public is invited to the event. Raffle tickets are on sale for $100 each with a limit of 249 tickets sold. In addition to the $7,000 first prize, there will be two $1,000 winners and two $500 winners in the raffle.

For more information about the event, or to purchase a ticket for the raffle, call the Club at 540.942.4516.

The tickets are selling for $100 each – and will be limited to 249 buyers.

The winners – one $7,000 prize, two $1,000 prizes and two $500 prizes – will be announced at the Boys & Girls Clubs’ holiday event on Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Waynesboro Boys & Girls Club location at 302 E. Main St.

For more information, or to purchase a ticket, call the Club at 540.942.4516.