The Boys & Girls Club Summer Camp is one of the most popular summer programs for young children in Fountain Hills. The coming weeks are filled with fun themes, games and educational activities …
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The Boys & Girls Club Summer Camp is one of the most popular summer programs for young children in Fountain Hills. The coming weeks are filled with fun themes, games and educational activities typical of the program, but the Club will look a little different.
The Boys & Girls Club Mary Ellen & Robert McKee Branch has new bleachers in the gymnasium, water bottle fillers on every water fountain, and improved security measures all around.
The local branch had everything ready when summer camps began on Tuesday, May 30. They held a celebration for local sponsors called “McKee In Bloom” on Wednesday, May 17, and Ivan Gilreath, the president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, showcased the safety improvements and thanked everyone for their support.
The McKee branch volunteered to upgrade its facilities ahead of an annual assessment. In an effort to build a “culture of safety,” the branch has added mag locks to doors and security glass at entrances. They also put privacy film on windows and replaced single hung windows with ones that don’t open.
The branch also added door alarms that go off every time one is opened, and there are several new cameras watching entrances and exits for safety precautions.
The current McKee branch Youth of the Year winner, Caden T., welcomed everyone to the ceremony. The past two Youth of the Year winners from the local branch, Jake Mitchell and JP Cahill, also spoke and shared the significant impact that Boys & Girls Club had in their lives.
The three young men shared their stories and thanked the sponsors that helped make the McKee branch a difference maker in their lives. Toward the end of the ceremony, club members presented the sponsors with commemorative plaques that were made in house at the STEAM Makerspace Studio.
The sponsors included Mary Ellen and Robert McKee from the Mary Ellen McKee Charitable Foundation, Dwight Johnson from the Verne C. Johnson Foundation, and Jack Fedor from the George Bauer Family Foundation, Fountain Hills Noon Kiwanis, Fountain Hills Community Foundation, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, and the Town of Fountain Hills.
The safety upgrades come near the one-year anniversary of the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 21 dead on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, Texas. According to the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, there were 249 shooting incidents at K-12 schools across the United States in 2021, and 153 incidents in 2022. According to the same data set, the most incidents in a year prior to the past two years was 119 in 2019.
While the Boys & Girls Club is not a school, it has served youth in Fountain Hills since 2004. The McKee branch provides national award-winning youth programming, year-round sport leagues, a technology lab, a full-service teen center, and much more.
The staff at the McKee branch is dedicated to serving and educating youth, providing fun experiences, and keeping them safe this summer. Those interested in learning more can visit bgcs.org/mary-ellen-robert-mckee-branch/, or visit bgcs.org/myclubhub to register.
