Published: May 01, 2008 07:44 pm         

Boys & Girls Club hosts Spring Carnival

By Leslie Gibson

Herald-Banner Staff



Smiles were captured in caricature, in face painting and dropping into the dunking booth in the second annual Spring Carnival of the Rockwall County Boys & Girls Club Saturday, April 26.

“It was a huge success,” said director Nan Ross of the event which had nearly 300, which was more than double last year’s attendance.

“My kids are very happy here,” said Shelley Clark, complimenting the “combination of support, discipline and games.

Support, discipline and games were handled by all ages of volunteers Saturday, including Jaime Rivera, former proprietor of Cajun Catfish for 20 years. He and his family cooked hamburgers all day Saturday. “I love Boys and Girls Club. My son was named ‘Youth of the Year’ last year,” he said, of teen Christopher Rivera. Chris volunteers every day, and said, “I enjoy spending time with the teenagers and the little kids who come here.”

Rockwall High juniors Janson Rector and Josh Yarbrough, last year formed soccer teams amongst the 69 children who regularly attend the club.

“It started because we needed National Honor Society hours, and ended up being pretty fun and we kept going,” Rector said.

Janson has learned “patience — a lot of patience” from the interaction with the kids. At first, he had trouble handling the “attitudes” but then “we learned to talk on their level and now they respect us,” he said.

Yarbrough was quick to recall the highlight of his year of work so far. “The medals. The day we gave out the medals to the kids. It was the last day we were going to play for a while because of our soccer season. We got the kids to play the parents. They were all really happy about it,” he said.

Luis Duarte, Rockwall High School sophomore, mentors the children and tells them, “There are no losers.” He appreciates being an “older figure for the kids. They talk to me once in a while and I talk to them and calm them sometimes,” he said. “I dedicate this to Rachel’s Challenge. It’s all right to talk kind,” he said. (Rachel’s Challenge is a program instituted throughout RISD which promotes kindness.) He and the others teach them children that “there are no losers.”

“We call our volunteers super heroes,” said Ross, director for just over a year. “They mean everything in the world to these children. We have 51 volunteers, and we still need more.”

“I’m a single mom, and I couldn’t do it without the boys and girls club.” She reports that her children never say, “I don’t want to go,” Clark said.

Boys and Girls Club is “fun” said second-grader Calista Ukeh, who has learned modeling through the club, and enjoyed getting dunked Saturday in the booth.

Stingerettes from Rockwall High School, who manned face painting and temporary tattoos this and last year, laughed and chatted as they and other closed up the booths. “I like the little kids,” said Kelsey Clasen. “They picked the randomest animals — like the poodle. They picked the house!”

“They were really appreciative about it, even if it wasn’t that wonderful,” said Alanna Switzer, of her face painting efforts.

“They just need someone to have fun with,” Clasen said.

Tonya Ukeh, mother of Calista and Alaric, said the club is “a safe place for my kids to be in the afternoons.”

Mother of Isaac Petersen, Yolanda Petersen, agreed it is a “good safe place for kids to come and play. It is a very good atmosphere. They teach them a lot about responsibility.”

From June 9 through 15, the club is having a career and goals camp called “Camp of Future Achievers.”