View from the Roof

The End of an Era

For the past forty plus years a group of guys have been getting together on the first Saturday of June at local groves to spend a day eating, drinking, playing horseshoes, and just having a good time. We held our last this past weekend. A victim of changing times.

It was the last hurrah for the Babcock Boy's Club Alumni Association. Started by former members of the Babcock Street Boy's Club, the Association was dedicated to giving something back to an orginization that shaped the lives of countless members.

The Babcock Street Boy's Club was started in 1926 to address the issue of juevenille delinquency. It was a place where the local boys could hangout away from the temptations of the street. Over the years the Club filled the needs of local youths by providing activities to occupy the time of kids which would otherwise be a bunch of street thugs.

Programs included baseball, basketball, hockey, football, billiards, ceramics, woodshop, photography, archery, radio room, weight room, and many other activities. The emphasis was always on team work, self-esteem, character, and community service. Former members early on recognizied the importance of such an institution in an urban envrionment and formed the Alumni as a way to support the orginization and continue the sense of community inspired by the Club.

Over the years, the Alumni, through the help and support of hundereds of members, contributed to the financial well being of the Club by volunterring time and energy, and raising funds to suport the continued existence of the Club. It was never a top down approach. We always asked the Club "What do you need?" and tried to fill that need. Times have changed.

Programs now seem to be selected based on what grants can be obtained by a staff of professional grant writers. The youth aren't consulted. The Allmni's input and support were rebuffed. We lost nexis, we lost members, we lost focus. The traditional was supplanted by the corporate type mentality of the machine. Write the proposals, get the grants, run the programs, record the demographics and move on.

It was with a heavy heart that we gave up trying to fight the system. Many of our members (i.e. former members) will continue to serve the local youth by pledging our support to our local community center, where our voices are still heard and respected.

After all, these are our nieces, nephews, sons and daughters. We have a pretty good idea of what works and how we want our youth to be raised. We don't have all the answers, but for over forty years we had input and a sense of contributing. We no longer have that in respect to the current situation at the Club. So, we move on and throw our support to the community orginizations which are more aligned with our culture.

posted by Chris @ 8:05 PM