Newsweek's Giving Back Awards

This week Newsweek magazine is running an editorial on the 15 people [or organizations] that make America great; they call it the Giving Back Awards. Alongside of Hollywood bigwig Brad Pitt is a company I believe epitomizes the essence of what Newsweek says it recognizes with this issue--"...people who, through bravery or generosity, genius or passion, devote themselves to helping others"--the Boys and Girls Club of America.


TRADITIONAL CHARITY
Boys & Girls Clubs
Atlanta

Written by Barbara Kantrowitz

On its 100th birthday, this group stays relevant by caring for new groups of poor kids.

Two words: changing lives. That's the essential mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of America, which celebrates its centennial this year. The vast majority of youngsters served by the organization's 3,935 clubs come from disadvantaged communities in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. "We want to enable them to become all they are capable of being: productive, responsible, caring citizens," says President Roxanne Spillett. She presides over a federation of local clubs, with national headquarters in Atlanta providing programming, marketing and operating standards. While many old-line charities have been suffering in the age of entrepreneurial philanthropy, Boys & Girls Clubs pushes forward by moving into new areas like public housing (where there are now 432 clubs), Native American communities (157 clubs) and military bases in the United States and Europe (432 clubs). "They reach young people everywhere," says Frances Hesselbein of the Leader to Leader Institute, a former CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA. "They're one of the most outstanding and successful social-sector organizations in the country."

Read the story online at MSNBC.msn.com


Having been apart of this organization for 3 years, I am elated such recognition is finally being passed to the work I see done by my employers and coworkers. Quite a few celebrities, like Denzel Washington, mark their success in life to their mentors at a Boys and Girls Club in their past; it does make a difference.



Posted by Denyne