Boys & Girls Club Blog

April 21, 2022

The Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh continues to grow throughout the Oshkosh Community and we are so lucky to have such a supportive network to help us continue serving the families that need us the most!

Our Club partners with the Oshkosh Area School District to provide seven elementary and middle school afterschool programs, along with two elementary afterschool programs that are licensed. This year, we started an afterschool program at South Park Middle School, and at Omro Elementary School. We also have our main location on Parkway Avenue, which has elementary, middle and high school students.

During non-school days, we offer full-day childcare at our main location, and at our Omro location as well. During summer, we open another site at Peace Lutheran Church, to offer care for children ages 5-12 years old. This program is coming up on its third summer and we will also be running a full summer program in Omro this year!

As we continue to expand our services, we are fortunate to have a multitude of volunteers and community partners to help bring new experiences and relationships to the children that we serve. We have a wonderful partnership with the Oshkosh Police Department and Kiwanis. The Oshkosh Police Department visits members up to twice per week to read and play games with kids. This could be the officer reading to a small group of children or the officer joining the kids during their STEM activities, or even playing a game of dodgeball!

One of our longest-standing partnerships is with 4-H. Sarah Thompson, 4-H Youth & Science Educator, comes into all of our locations to offer great activities for our kids! One of their favorite things to do when she comes for the day is a lego robotic lesson. Sarah teaches the kids how to follow directions to assemble a lego creature that can come to life and be moved using a computer.

We are currently partnering with Goodwill to offer a program to our teens on interviewing, resumes, career paths, and everything else to prepare them for choosing a career and getting hired. This has been an amazing opportunity and really helps get teens career ready!

We have many opportunities that arise for the children in our program! We partner with the YMCA on flag football, swimming in the summer, and our teen program summer camp. Patricia Hallquist of Northeast WI ACS is a wonderful friend of the Club who brings in chemistry lessons for our children. Another friend of the Club, Ginger Wolff-Anderson, does different art activities with our children in the summer! The Oshkosh Public Library puts on a variety of unique programs for us and we have some really spectacular board members who plan fun things for our youth! Board Member Art Dumke has even taken a group of our teens on a weekend ski trip, which is often a first-time experience for many!

We are always looking for new opportunities and adventures for the children in our community. We would like to thank all of those who have brought new experiences to our kids, and if you are interested in getting involved please reach out!

Lindsay Clark
Director of Club Operations
lindsayc@bgcosh.org
(920) 233-1414 ext. 114