Where Everybody Knows Your Name

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got…”

The opening line to the theme song from Cheers may seem like an odd starting point to talk about the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia, but helping kids to make their way in the world today is precisely their mission. You’ll also hear it said by the kids, their families, teachers and staff members that the Boys & Girls Club is truly a place “where everybody knows your name.”

This year is especially important for the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia because it is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The organization has been providing a clean and safe place for children and youth to gather when they aren’t in school for half a century and is still going strong. They’ll be throwing a party in September and will also be completely renovating the building on Johnston Street to mark their five decades of helping the youth in our community.

Incorporated in 1966 by the State of Georgia as the Boys Club of Glynn, Inc., the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia began through the work of Rev. Roy B. Setzer in 1930. Rev. Setzer was the pastor of St. James Lutheran Church in Brunswick, the welfare director of the City, and volunteer Probation Officer of the Juvenile Court. Rev. Setzer saw urgent need and decided to form a club. “The purpose of the club was to lay a solid foundation for citizenship in the lives of underprivileged boys. There was a two-fold approach to this: (1) To instill into the boys the moral values of the Ten Commandments: (2) To demonstrate to them that the church and the community (through its civic clubs and leading citizens) had a genuine concern for them.” Meetings where the boys played games and discussed the Ten Commandments were held in the parish hall of the church on Friday nights and other special recreational activities were held during the week. When the group’s membership increased to 45 boys, the group split into two. The Kiwanis Club stepped up and provided the boys with a camping trip on St. Simons Island each summer, tickets to ballgames, and meals. At that time, there were approximately 90 boys participating in the program. Before Rev. Setzer left the area in 1938, he drew up tentative plans for a clubhouse to expand the program and give it a permanent home. The idea was backed by Alfred Jones of Sea Island Company, among others.

S.G. Norton took on the mantle of leadership after Rev. Setzer’s departure and was one of the individuals instrumental in organizing the group officially as the Brunswick Boys Club with a location in a two-story building on “H” street in 1938. The program featured boxing, football, basketball, woodshop, and movies.  A new facility on “H” Street was built by the Brunswick Kiwanis Club in 1957, and they continued to support the project under the leadership of Bill Womack. Upon the death of Mr. Womack and subsequent issues, the club closed in August of 1965.

A man that many of us today know as a great friend to this community through his work with the St. Simons Island Land Trust and beyond, Ben T. Slade, III, stepped forward with E.M. Patterson and Paul Warwick, and advised a reorganization of the Board of Directors and helped the Boys Club of Glynn to obtain its incorporated status from the State of Georgia on October 28, 1966. I.M. Aiken, Sr. was elected president of the Board of Directors and Charles Gillican was hired as Executive Director. On May 1, 1967, the doors opened at a temporary site in Brunswick to welcome boys between the ages of 6 and 15 years old to a daily program.

Ben Slade spearheaded a capital funds drive in April 1968, and A.J. Reu, building chairman, had a piece of property located on Johnson Street in Brunswick cleared to become the site of the new building that would house the club. That property was donated by the Brice and Davis families of Vidalia. The club continued to operate during this time from various locations on St. Simons Island and in Brunswick, and even increased membership. In June 1970, the new building on Johnston Street opened. This is only one of two freestanding facilities operated by the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia and is now known as the Terrill Thomas Unit. The other is the 20,000 sq. ft. Elizabeth F. Correll Teen Center that was opened in August 2009 and is located on a six-acre campus on Coral Park Drive in Brunswick. Other club locations are within the Brunswick Housing Authority, the middle schools, and the First Baptist Church on St. Simons Island. Approximately 4,700 youth are served annually through the 9 facilities. The Boys Club of Glynn became the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia in 1999, one of the last Boys Clubs in the nation to make the change to co-ed status. From serving 90 youth per day in the early days of the organization to now approximately 1,100 per day, the Club remains steadfast in its mission to provide a clean, safe place for youth to gather.

Chief Professional Officer Brian Dolan says that the Club has grown at a tremendous rate, especially over the past 20 years, and they don’t anticipate that growth to slow. Need is greater than ever. It was just this year that the Glynn Middle location opened as part of the Club’s strategic plan to keep youth involved all the way from elementary school through high school. The program that was once known for swim, gym, and football, has turned into a key community tool for ensuring academic success, high school graduation, workforce development, and general life skills. They offer after school and summer programs and recreational activities for youth on the weekends at the Teen Center. The Club, through its partnership with the USDA, also provides youth with breakfast, lunch, and snack during the summer, serving approximately 2,200 meals per day. During the school year, they offer a snack and hot dinner.

Dolan credits having a very strong Board of Directors and great past presidents like Ben Slade and Bill Stembler as being the driving force behind the growth and success of the Club, giving them the access to reach so many youth in the community. It’s also a testament to the Club that the majority of the staff members came up through the program and now work for them, doing their best to make a difference in kids’ lives they way the Club did in theirs.

A wonderful success story is 2016 Youth of the Year Tireanna Medlock. She’s been attending the Club since she was six years old and says her favorite thing about it is getting to interact with others. “The Boys & Girls Club helped me with career readiness, sports, and getting homework help. I learned so much from the classes I took with them too. Working in the Refuel program helped me to learn work skills. How not to be late. How to say no to your friends when they want you to bend the rules.”

Tireanna credits staff member Kyajuana Gilberts, who specializes in college/career placement readiment, with helping her to apply for college and find the funding she needed to attend. She says, “When she asked me what I was doing about college, I said ‘I don’t know.’ I didn’t. I knew college there. I knew college cost money. But I didn’t know anything else about how to get there. She helped me so much.” Tireanna received a Correll Scholarship and will be starting classes at Savannah State at the time this issue hits the stands, with an intent to practice pediatric medicine.

Tireanna says “I want to set an example for other youth. I want them to see that they can do more than make minimum wage, that they can make something of themselves.” She also says she’s going to miss the Teen Center and being able to stop in and talk to everyone, and hopes that they’ll let her come back in some capacity. That speaks volumes.

If you have passed through the doors as a member of the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia during the 50 years of its existence, they invite you to get in touch by emailing bgcglynnalumni@gmail.com as they are attempting to reach any and all alumni. The 50 Year Anniversary Celebration will be held September 13 at the Elizabeth F. Correll Teen Center and our very own Elaine Griffin will be the guest speaker.

For more information about the Boys & Girls Club of Southeast Georgia and their programs, including the Elizabeth F. Correll Teen Center, visit apositiveplace.net.