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A Tradition Lives
All
over the nation, people who never met have something in
common: they want to start a Boys & Girls Club
in their community.
This civic wonder takes place almost every day, good people
coming together for the sake of our children. It's the American
Way, a phenomenon noted as far back as 1835, when French historian
Alexis de Tocqueville visited a young United States still
regarded as a wilderness by many Europeans.
In his landmark study, Democracy in America, de Tocqueville
noted the grassroots, take-charge character of our national
life, especially on behalf of a worthy cause. "If it
is a question of bringing to light a truth," he wrote,
"they [Americans] associate."
His observation aptly describes the start of the Boys &
Girls Club Movement, an "association" that continues
to shed its light after more than 140 years.
One of the great pleasures of my job involves meeting the
kind of people who want us in their city or town. They are
indispensable. Money can fund bricks and mortar, but a cause
- even one as worthy as a Boys & Girls Club - cannot exist
in a civic vacuum. It's the people in these cities and towns
who make our Clubs an enduring reality.
People such as Peggy Cole, one of our national trustees,
who began the Boys & Girls Club of Martin County, Fla.,
with a gathering of concerned citizens in her living
room.
And Lewis Katz, who in his quest to revitalize his hometown
of Camden, N.J., saw a new Boys & Girls Club
as the surest promise of a future.
Peggy, Lew and thousands of other dedicated volunteers give
the gift of their time, talent and treasure to make a difference
in the lives of kids – and our nation. In many ways, and despite
many changes, it is still a nation that the one de Tocqueville
described so long ago:
"As soon as several inhabitants of the United States
conceive an idea that they want to produce in the world, they
seek each other out; and when they have found each other,
they unite. From then on they are no longer isolated, but
a power one sees from afar, whose actions serve as an example;
a power that speaks, and to which one listens."
Sound like any people you know?
Boys & Girls Clubs: Now, more than ever.
Roxanne Spillett
President
Boys & Girls Clubs of America
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