Night of Hope: Celebrating 25 Years in Hartsville

During this year’s Night of Hope, the Hartsville Boys & Girls Club celebrates 25 years serving the community with an oyster roast and live and silent auctions from 6 to 9 p.m. on Saturday, October 12, at the Hartsville Country Club. Individual tickets are $75, and sponsorship packages are available to highlight your business during the event. Call Lisa at 843-713-9449 for info.

Opened in 1999 under the corporate umbrella of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area, the mission of the Hartsville Boys & Girls Club is to inspire and enable all young people ages 6-18 from throughout the greater Hartsville community, especially those who need us most, to become productive, responsible, and caring citizens.

The purpose of the Club is to promote the social, educational, health, leadership, and character development of youth during critical periods of their growth. This is accomplished by

• Providing children with a daily comprehensive youth development program that recognizes and responds to the collective and individual needs of girls and boys;
• Providing parents and children with an affordable, safe, supervised, and guidance-oriented program when it is needed most, every day after school and all day on non-school days;
• Targeting those children in extremely disadvantaged circumstances who are not receiving services from other agencies;
• Offering proven activities and services with life-changing outcomes; and
• Offering a diverse schedule of services in the areas of Education & Career Development; Character & Leadership Development; The Arts; Health & Life Skills; and Sports, and Fitness & Recreation.

Open every day after school and all day on non-school days, Club hours are designed to benefit youth when they otherwise would be left unsupervised. Annual membership dues are kept low and allow youth to participate in all Club programs. No child is ever turned away due to an inability to pay.

Once at the Club, youth are exposed to programs, role models, and skill development to help them become productive, independent adults. The program’s core priority impact areas are Academic Success, Good Character and Healthy Lifestyles. By offering diverse, interesting, and proven programs, the Club will attract youth and keep them as active participants thereby achieving positive results.

The Results

The Club continued to have a strong impact with its members, as exhibited in our most recent survey of our member’s school teachers:

• 86% of students who needed to improve their academic performance did;
• 80% of students who needed to improve their behavior did;
• 86% of students who needed to do better completing their homework to the teacher’s satisfaction did;
• 80% of students needing to come to school more motivated to learn did; and
• 74% of those who needed to volunteer in the classroom for extra credit or to show more responsibility did.

While the Club had a strong impact in terms of academics, its mentoring and quality programming also showed a strong impact in terms of behavior and attitude. Data reveals our members are:

• 32% less likely to consume alcohol than their peers;
• 44% more likely to believe schoolwork is meaningful than their peers; and
• 36% less likely to get into a physical fight than their peers.
• 98% feel they can stand up for what is right even if friends disagree;
• 69% volunteer at least on a monthly basis;
• 93% try to help when they see someone in need; and
• 89% think about how other people will be affected by their decisions.

Data also shows that, of our members,

• 98% feel they can stand up for what is right even if friends disagree;
• 69% volunteer at least on a monthly basis;
• 93% try to help when they see someone in need; and
• 89% think about how other people will be affected by their decisions.