DJ Dance Parties in The After-School Programs

Held at the Washington, Gregory, Hazel, and Pleasantdale Elementary Schools

Youth Program Supervisor, John Peterson facilitates a DJ Dance Party every year for each after-school program.  Recognizing the need for our children to get and stay healthy, he turns fitness into FUN!

He brings his DJ Speaker,  iPad DJ'ing gear, and this year invited DJ (and program specialist from Washington School) Jean Marc Chery.   The theme of this year's visit was a balloon theme.  The kids had a blast relaying and popping the balloons.

Once the balloons were popped, MC Peterson and DJ Jean Marc Chery led group dances including the Cha Cha Slide, Chicken Dance, The YMCA, and more.  Our staff, school faculty, and even the parents couldn't resist the urge to Shake It Up!  Next time, we'll plan on formally inviting parents and staff to join in on the fitness and fun!

BGCA's Million Members, Million Hours

BGCA's (The Boys & Girls Club of America) Year of Service initiatives provide Club members with opportunities to engage in service, practice leadership skills and effect change in Clubs and communities. For the past few years, our Year of Service initiatives have been limited to seven signature service events. In 2013, the BGCA is introducing year-round opportunities for members to engage in service – no matter what day of the year it is.

The overarching goal for our Movement is for one million members to give one million hours of service – a goal that can be stated as simply as "Million Members, Million Hours." This goal can easily be achieved if you consider that in any given year, all members can give at least one hour of their time.

To help Clubs engage all members in at least one hour of service, BGCA has created new "One Member, One Hour" Activities. These are activities that can easily be conducted throughout the Club, reinforcing the idea that character, leadership and service can be taught across Club programming, not just in small-group settings or programs as has historically been the case.

Our program in West Orange has pledged 200 hours.  Each child will have an opportunity to serve by writing letters to the members of our Armed Forces!  BGCA offers many other ideas to participate in the Million Member, Million Hour initiative and we look forward to adding more hours after the completion of this volunteer project on May 7th.  

May 13th UPDATE: 

Here are some letters from the kids to our troops!