$10K Donation Made To Boys & Girls Clubs Of Oceanside

OCEANSIDE, CA – The Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside was gifted a $10,000 donation from Bridgestone Retail Operations, through Boys & Girls Clubs of America, that will be used to increase daily attendance by recruiting and retaining hard-to-reach youth in the community, club officials said Tuesday.

The club offers teens a variety of such activities and hands-on experiences as cooking a five-course meal as part of a unit on exploring the culture of Italy and learning about states of matter by crafting their own “oobleck” – putty that changes under pressure from a liquid to a solid. Youth also can explore dance, science, photography, music, engineering, design and art.

BGCO, which serves roughly 1,400 youth daily during the school year and offers a "R.O.A.D.'s" program for adults with disabilities, has expansion plans that include a 2,000-square-foot expansion on the Center for Innovation to offer a Culinary Arts Teaching Kitchen, a Performing Arts Studio and a STREAM (Science, Technology, Research, Engineering, Arts, Math) Lab. These experiences teach teens responsibility and give them a sense of ownership of their Clubhouse, making it a place they want to come back to and share with their friends.

BGCO will host a teen hiring and education expo at Oceanside High School on Feb. 16 to recruit teens at Oceanside’s middle schools and high schools.

For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside, visit the website BGCOceanside.org or on Facebook www.facebook.com/BGCOside .

PHOTO: BGCO teen devours her extra cheesy, four-meat lasagna she made with Club friends at the end of their unit on Italian Culture.

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--Image via Boys & Girls Clubs of Oceanside