The Manteca Boys & Girls Club — a community based non-profit that has a track record of making the difference in the lives of youth for 43 years — is bringing back the telethon.
The marquee fundraiser was conducted for more than 30 years and carried live on Comcast Cable Channel 97 every November.
The new version, in a nod to current technologies, will be live streamed.
Just like the original, it will offer live entertainment, silent and live auctions, celebrity appearances, food, and more.
It has also been moved from a weeknight to a Saturday to allow for greater participation.
The key to the telethon’s ability to raise funds to provide drop-in programs after school, during the summer, and during school, breaks are volunteers who make calls to ask the community to support the club by making a donation.
Community groups and individuals that would like to help make phone calls during the telethon planned for Saturday, Sept. 20, from 4 to 9 p.m. can call (209) 239-KIDS.
Club President Erin Nussbaumer noted the club is a true drop-in program with various opportunities to take place in organized activities and sports leagues.
As such, that means kids from ages 6 to 18 have a safe place they can just hang out with their peers and make new friends, shoot baskets in the gym, take advantage of the games room and such, or participate in everything from art classes to flag football leagues.
Nussbaumer pointed out that means kids don’t from a structured school setting into an after school setting where they continue to basically sit and participate in more structure programs.
“It gives kids a chance to be kids,” she said.
The formula has paid dividends for decades.
There are endless success stories of at-risk kids growing up to be successful in life and steer clear of trouble.
And those that might not be considered at risk, benefited immensely as well in terms of personal growth and find experiences, that they have their children attending the club now.
The annual membership is $60. That covers all offerings.
It stays with the original objective to make sure the club was accessible to youth.
Community leaders founded the club and build the facility 545 W. Alameda that opened in 1982 as a way to address growing concerns regarding latchkey children that basically had to fend for themselves after school, and even in summer, because both parents or their only parent, was at work.
Several years after the club opened, Manteca Police indicated there was nearly a 35 percent drop in juvenile delinquency community wide.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
