Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maryland (B&GCSM)

Bayside Unit 

One person, One Club can make a difference. In 1999our Community Service Director, Joyce Whitney-Pfanschmidt, accepted the challenge to find a worthwhile community service project. Soon her attention was drawn to a letter of despair written by a local teen and published in the local newspaper. Essentially it said we are not all athletics and cheerleaders and were not all druggies – we just need something to do! Joyce gathered the youth that wanted a safe “welcome place” to gather and listen to music and chat. They were well meaning kids; sad that their town did not support the youth. They were poor kids worrying about the hungry in town; they wanted to help the seniors, and others in need. Joyce realized, they had the Rotary spirit.

These youth live in a high risk area with numerous crack houses, a high rate of teen pregnancy, and unfortunately, one of the longest commutes in Maryland leaving most youth home alone from 3:30 pm to 7:00pm … sometimes later. The youth are threatened daily by drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, sex, and crime. Many in the area feel it is the parents responsibility to oversee the youth. We all agree; however, the fact remains there are parents who either lack the skills or are just not interested in providing a healthy atmosphere for raising youth. It is up to the community to break this cycle … and Rotary met the challenge.

The Rotary Club of Northern Calvert immediately saw this as an ideal community project. The problem had been identified; now it was time for action. Our Club adopted these “throw away kids” as their community service project. Rotary made a presentation to the County Commissioners and obtained permission to use the North Beach Community Center as a meeting location. Joyce being a voice teacher, actress, and music therapist worked with the youth preparing skits, singing, and general mentoring. Soon we realized a number of the youth had a desire to learn more about computers. The Rotary Club of Northern Calvert

conducted fund raisers and set up a computer learning center in North Beach, MD called Cyberpals. The Rotary Club was able to purchase 5 new computers and provide Internet service. Using computer specialists in the area and club we began conducting programming, computer repair, and application sessions. Using the Rotary Interact connections on the Internet we connected with youth around the world, including Russia, Malaysia, Philippians, Panama, and Bolivia. Soon we grew to 20 youth and it was apparent we were making a difference in their lives. The youth realized “Someone Cared”. As we repaired computers, we began giving them away to “Cyberpal Club” members. To date we have provided over 50 computers to North Beach families.

As we met with success more organizations and people became interested in our program. We were addressing the immediate problem … giving the youth something positive to do after school; however, we still needed to address the parental problem. To help train the parents we set up a partnership with the Family Place/Even Start Program. We were now addressing the total problem. Family Place served the 0-6 age group; we served the 6-18 age group; and, Even Start serves those over 18.

The program began to really catch on after about a year … membership rose dramatically and we began to have 40 to 50 youth in a relative small room. It was growing too large to be run by Rotary volunteers. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America

were moving in to the area and they approached us to see if we wanted to merge our program with theirs. We realized to continue to grow this program we needed paid staff members and Boys & Girls Clubs seemed the right vehicle. In January of 2000 we merged our program with Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maryland. The Rotary Club of Northern Calvert is the primary sponsor of the Bayside Boys & Girls Club. This program has been a resounding success both for the community and Rotary. In January 2009 the B&GCSM opened the new building which is shown at the beginning of this article. The program runs every weekday and consists of over 7 planned programs.

Now that the building is complete, "What is our Club's role today?". The needs of the Bayside Club are still a challenge ... the building is paid for but there is a continuing need for financial support and volunteers. Our Rotary Club will continue to raise money to support the Bayside Club, e.g., our Annual Miniature Golf Tournament, the Afghanistan Project, and other activities. 

We can be proud that we are not just giving these youth something to do but are providing life skills and truly “Saving Lives” and “Saving Our Tomorrow

by Securing Our Youth Today.

For up to date information on the B&GCSM click the following link: www.bgcsm.net.