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 staging a telethon on Saturday, Sept. 20.
It takes place at the Boys & Girls Club, 545 West Alameda St., from 4 to 9 p.m.
The admission free community event includes live performances, silent auction, family friendly entertainment, live auction, and Youth of the Year testimonies.
The telethon features a “Throwback ‘80s” theme
Volunteers will be calling community members asking for them to make a cash donation. You can also drop by the club on Saturday to make a donation as well.
The goal this year is to raise $150,000.
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 partially live streamed on the Manteca Boys & Girls Club Facebook page.
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.
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.
It means kids don’t come from a structured school setting into an after school setting where they continue to basically sit and participate in more structured programs.
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
