One of the most popular songs of the holiday season has given the Boys' and Girls' Club of London a theme for a new project to help kids from every city neighbourhood.

Celebrating Twelve Days of Christmas from Dec. 10 to 21, the club will serve Christmas dinner to 1,200 children and youth members -- that's 100 a day for 12 days -- from 22 areas of the city.

The extended party includes a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, plus a goal -- for which sponsors are needed -- to give each youngster a $10 gift card from local businesses.

"People assume everyone is looked after at Christmas time," said Don Donner, the club's executive director.

"But that's not guaranteed for some of our members who come from families who have to make difficult choices about how to spend very limited incomes," he said.

Five sponsors have already covered the costs for one day each -- $1,200 apiece -- and the club is looking for seven more.

"We're committed," said Donner. "We have the kids, we have the volunteers -- all we need now is a few more companies, service clubs, groups or individuals to come forward with some support."

The club will provide the food, location, staff and volunteers for the holiday party, with help from cooks at Western Fair catering, with the kids bused in and back home.

"We want some of our most vulnerable children, youth and teens to have a Christmas dinner and experience," said Donner. "We've been able to identify those who need such support through our staff."

Each participant will also get a "candy cane chocolate crackle" ice-cream cone and options through the gift card.

"We think gift cards are more empowering than gifts that may not be wanted or age-appropriate," said Donner. "It gives the kids the ability to choose something for themselves or others. "

The club welcomes gift-card purchases or donations to buy them, said Donner.

Some kids are very unselfish and will use the card to buy for a mother, father, or other family member, he said.

"When someone with very little does something like that for someone else, that's the miracle of Christmas," said Donner.

Santa Claus will be on hand, carollers will get everyone singing and an inspiring story about caring people will be told daily, said Donner.

The stories will be compiled in a document, becoming part of the event's legacy, he said.

The club served about 1,200 children during Donner's first year on staff 29 years ago. Now, it's 8,265.

Cuddy Foods is supplying the turkeys, Strathroy Foods the vegetables, Bedell's the potatoes and Loblaws the ice cream, he said.

One-day sponsors on board so far are Rogers, London Transportation Club, B-Back Pawnbrokers, Great- West Life Insurance and Scotia Bank.

TO DONATE:

Contact Leigh-Anne Tyson or Sarah Donohue at the Boys' and Girls' Club, 184 Horton St., London, N6B 1KB, 519-434-9114.

MAY 9, 2007
LONDON FREE PRESS
DONATION GIVES YOUNGSTERS CHANCE TO FULFIL THEIR DREAMS BY DEBORA VAN BRENK

They are youngsters whose chances of graduating high school, much less going on to study after that, might ordinarily be slim.

Today, Tom Whealy is set to improve their odds as he invests $360,000 in the lives of children at the Boys' and Girls' Club of London.

His donation for post- secondary school bursaries builds on a program begun two years ago to help high schoolers find their dreams and reach them.

"These are kids who maybe aren't A students -- maybe they're passing, but not setting the world on fire academically -- but we want to say, 'Hey, you're trying your best and doing a great job,' " said Boys' and Girls' Club executive director Don Donner.

In 2005, the club selected 50 members in Grades 9 to 12 to receive incentives for staying in school. Each receives $50 for the first year, $100 for the second, $200 for the third and $300 for the fourth year, as long as they stay in school. A new crop of young students is selected as others graduate.

After that -- thanks to Whealy -- the students now are eligible for the new Education Opportunities Fund -- bursaries for their choice of trade school, apprenticeships, college or university.

The fund will be designated for Whealy's Kids. A newly introduced Mentors of the Round Table program will encourage others to donate.

Whealy, a philanthropist and co-founder of Decade Developments in London, said he's excited about being able to help kids discover and use their strengths.

Along with the monetary help, "it's recognition. It's acknowledgment. It's a pat-on-the-back-plus," Whealy said.

Whealy is a University of Western Ontario grad who volunteered at the Boys' Club in Toronto as a teen.

The main reasons kids drop out include financial barriers and families who may not have the energy or time to support their children's efforts, Donner said.

These bursaries, Donner said, give kids the message, "You can do this and we have faith in you."

Donner said nothing beats seeing the children grow up and return to say the club had given them a chance.

"One of the best treats I ever had was when we built the aquaplex years ago and I'd bump into all these trades-people" working there who would say how the club had enriched them as youngsters.

John Thorpe, education superintendent with the Thames Valley District school board, was enthusiastic and grateful upon hearing of the emerging program.

"Any opportunity that emphasizes the importance of school and schooling to kids at risk is a good thing," he said, adding the fund "has potential to make a significant difference in the lives of teenagers" -- and shows them someone supports their efforts and cares about them.

MARCH 23, 2007
LONDON FREE PRESS
AGING BUS ROUNDS FINAL BEND BY IAN GILLESPIE

Janet Hernandez has a smile that seems to stretch as wide as the rear-view mirror mounted above her steering wheel. And it's clear she doesn't really want to criticize the big old bus she drives for the Boys' and Girls' Club of London.

But bit by bit, I get her to tell me a few things about the aging vehicle.

Like the fact that on Monday, it wouldn't start. And on Tuesday, she couldn't open the fuel cap.

The ride is about as smooth as a roller-skate romp through a gravel pit.

Oh, and there's something wrong with the water pump. And when it rains, water pools on the dashboard behind the steering wheel. And in the winter, there's no heat in the back of the bus.

And has the bus ever broken down?

Not yet, Hernandez assures me. Well, at least not with any kids on board. Although it did break down the first time she ever drove it, during a training run about a year ago.

That doesn't sound good.

So I settle in for an hour-long ride and notice a few things myself: The driver's seat is torn and frayed, the passenger seats are as comfortable as cold concrete, the windows rattle louder than marbles in a can and the ride is about as smooth as a roller-skate romp through a gravel pit.

Yep. It's time for a new bus.

And that's exactly what's coming to the Boys' and Girls' Club in about two weeks: A brand, spanking new 72-seat bus that'll cost $101,767.80.

That's the way Don Donner explains it to me, too.

The executive director doesn't say the club is buying a $100,000 bus. He doesn't say it's more than $101,000 and he doesn't say it's nearly $102,000.

No. Every time he tells me the price, Donner describes it to me in the same, precise way: One hundred and one thousand, seven hundred sixty-seven dollars and eighty cents.

He never, ever leaves off the 80 cents.

And maybe, I think, that's because this is such an important purchase for the Horton street club.

So far, the Boys' and Girls' Club has raised about $30,000 toward the purchase of the new bus. (Or as Donner precisely points out: $29,767.80 .)

And now, the club is politely asking Londoners to dip into their pockets and purses and help the club pay for the new vehicle.

But is the bus really all that important?

Ponder this: Almost every weekday, the bus leaves the club three times -- at about 3, 4 and then 5 p.m. -- and heads to a different London neighbourhood where it picks up a group of kids and then brings them to the Horton Street club for two hours of after-school activities. And later, of course, the bus makes the return trip.

It all adds up to about 1,200 individual rides per week -- or more than 62,000 rides per year. And that doesn't include the day trips for seniors, or the special outings to summer camp, or to Niagara Falls or to special events like a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game.

The club owns about 20 vehicles in total, including some smaller paratransit vehicles. But with about 8,265 young members, the club's big bus is a lifeline to thousands of London families.

"It's huge," says Donner. "Because a lot of the people we deal with can't afford to own cars. If they don't have this transportation, these kids wouldn't get down here at least once a week."

Any group or individual can "buy" a seat on the new bus with a donation of $1,000, and the contribution will be recognized with a small plaque on the seat.

But Donner stresses that donations of any amount are welcome, and tax receipts are gladly issued.

In the end, Donner says there are two things that can block a child from enjoying the Boys' and Girls' Club: Affordability and transportation.

But with a membership fee based on family income and a policy that ensures no child is ever turned away because of an inability to pay, the club has taken care of the affordability part.

Now it's up to the rest of us to take care of the wheels.

INFO BOX: To donate money toward the Boys' and Girls' Club's new bus, contact fundraising co-ordinator Leigh-Anne Tyson at (519) 434-9115 (ext. 222) or ltyson@bgclondon.ca

February 24, 2007
London Free Press
PERSEVERANCE SAVES TEEN'S FUTURE

Sarah Craik was set to start high school, dreaming of becoming a star athlete, when a freak accident changed her life.

While smashing around in a bumper car in an amusement park in the Netherlands in 2002, the London teenager felt a darting pain her left leg. Soon, she felt nothing in her leg at all.

Craik later learned a blood vessel in her leg had burst because her bumber car had been hit so many times by other cars.

She lost a half litre of blood and was left wit a grape-fruit-sized clot thar required surgery to remove a week later.

Craik spent grade 9 on crutches no playing every sport she has planned. Then things got even worse. During the next three years, Craik was rocked by the deaths of three people close to her and the separation of her parents.

Now 17 and preparing to graduate from Laurier Secondary School, Craik still vividly recalls hobbling from the bumper car with a numb leg. "I just felt to the ground and couldn't get back up," she said. But she did.

For battling back from adversity, Craik was recently chosen by the Ontario Community Association as one of its 12 Ontario junior citizens of the year.

The awards recognize young people who, despite obstacles, become greatly involved in their community.

Craik has volunteered at the Boys' and Girls' Club of London since she was 12, wining the club's J. Allyn Taylor Award for volunteerism last year. She now works there as a lifeguard and swim coach.

The club was a refuge for Craik through her physical and emotional challenges.

First, after working up the strength in her left leg needed to play house league soccer, she badly hurt her right leg during a game, meaning two knee surgeries and a Grade 10 year also in crutches.

During the next two years, her uncle committed suicide, a friend died of cystic fibrosis and her parents separated. But the biggest blow came last year when her cousin, Matthew Bell, was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Adelaide Street.

Unable to focus under the weight of that loss, Craik had to attend summer school to make up courses.

"It was never so much 'Why me?' as it was 'Why him?'" she said.

Her mother, Nancy, a registered nurse, says her daughter's ability to persevere was inspiring. "Depression was never an option" she said. "There were just too many good things ahead"

To help cope, Craik turned to swimming. Even with a left leg that, while functioning, is still so painful sometimes can't get out of bed, she was the Boys' and Girls' Club athlete of the year in 2006. Craik said working with kids at the club gives her strength.

Next year, Craik will study pre-health sciences at Fanshawe College. She hopes to become a paramedic or nurse. Looking back, she thinks her challenges weren't for a purpose.

"Everything that has happened to me has made me who I am" she said. "And I like who I am".