Boys & Girls Club Blog

Oshkosh Area Community Foundation Summer Grants Update

Each year, Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh is supported by many funds at the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation. During the summer, we especially see this support in our numerous experiences we provide for our members including:

All 200 Club members attending for the summer will get to experience Camp Radford, our camp located in New London. They will go on day trips and there will be 3 special overnight trips and a tubing trip all of which are supported by a grant from the Hiwela Youth Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation. Camp Radford gives our members an opportunity to experience a new environment, sunshine and fresh air. For many of these youth, it is their first ever camp experience and the memories they make last a lifetime. The members participate in activities such as a low ropes course, archery, fort building, gaga pit, art projects, making a camp fire and eating camp fire made food, team building activities and fishing.

Ten teens will be able to attend the National Keystone Conference in Atlanta, Georgia thanks to a grant from the Hiwela Youth Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation. Keystone is a unique leadership development experience that provides opportunities that focus on academic success, career preparation and community service. Keystone members engage and socialize with peers, explore relevant issues, and develop skills to support and enhance efforts in their local Boys & Girls Clubs and communities. Each year Boys & Girls Clubs of America puts on a conference for teens to develop and enhance leadership skills, meet new people from around the country and focus on a yearly initiative. This years’ is” United WE Stand,” which will focus on celebrating the diversity and assess ethnic, racial and religious climate in our community. Our teens plan on hosting a speaker series to help bring awareness to the diversity in Oshkosh. While at the conference they will get to share ideas and learn about other Boys & Girls Club’s projects.

We are starting a new program called Summer Strings. This program will be for 7 to 13 year olds who are interested in string orchestra and would like to learn more about these types of instruments. We have partnered with the Oshkosh Youth Symphony to host a 10 day program where youth can learn the viola, violin, cello or the bass. We are excited to start this new adventure into music. A special thank you to the Ruth A. Nordhaus Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation who are making this possible!

Our teens will be learning about making good financial decisions thanks to the Provident Financial Consultants Fund of the Oshkosh Area Community Foundation in our Money Matters program. The program helps youth to become financially responsible and adequately prepared to make sound financial plans and develop financial goals for their future. The program meets on a weekly basis for 8 weeks and uses interactive activities to educate teens on critical aspects of financial literacy, including managing a checking account, budgeting, saving, avoiding debt, investing and paying for college. As a part of this program, we run a day called Reality Store. Reality Store is like a big life size version on the board game Life. Each participant gets a career and a check book with a fake salary. They then have to go to different stations that are set up including: a car dealer, home buying, child care and insurance. They make purchases just as they would in the real world.  This program helps them think about their future and practice stretching their budgets and imaginations. If you would like to volunteer for Reality Store on August 1, please contact Carlea Liermann at carleal@bgcosh.org or 920-233-1414 x127.

Thank you to the many donors and friends of the Club who invest in our members and help us run these wonderful programs for our youth!