11-11-23 Seg 2 Boys and Girls Club (non profit)

Welcome back to Durango Digs on AM 1240, Katie Geo with 98.3 FM, Jack Llewellyn with the Chamber of Commerce here with Vaughn Morris from the Boys and Girls Club and about 20 other things. Yeah, you know, I like to keep busy. Well, you know, Idle Hands is the Devil's Playground, what is that? Something like that. I can never remember that. It's like you've been... Devil's Workshop. It's the Workshop. Oh, Workshop, okay. Idle Hands is the Devil's Workshop. You're telling a story. I'm just looking at you going, you were probably a handful as a kid. You're even turning a little red now. Well, I know it's funny because I said handsome and anybody that knows me, that's simply not true, so... Well, you know, your mom says you're a catch. That's all that matters. That's it. My brother told me when he joined the Marines, they said, blonde hair and blue eyes, your mom told you own the world. Guess what? You're ours now. There you go. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Oh, you're a handful to say the least, Jack, for sure. Well, but I'm going to say all that experience has now brought you full circle to run the Boys and Girls Club because they always say, you know, some of the ones that were the most ornery and did some things make the best police officers because they know how to see through stuff. Well, sure. You know, and my brother did become a police officer after the Marine Corps and I went back to, you know, the roots of the Boys and Girls Club like we talked about in the last segment that I went to a club and, you know, growing up here locally, you know, I still see people and, you know, I had a principal that was at my Park Avenue Elementary, so fourth, fifth, and sixth, and it was also my high school principal. Oh. You know, so he saw me in two different stages of development, so to speak. Sure. Yeah. Stupid in both of them, but different, right? Right. So, you know, I was talking to a friend of mine that plays golf with that individual now, and actually, my name came up. Oh. And he just said, you know, I really enjoyed those kids because it was never a dull moment, right? They had spirit, you know. Right. And I was like, that's what you called it. Back then, they could try to spank that spirit out of you. Well, right. You know, and then clearly that's... What were you thinking? Exactly. Those are the things that have changed, right? Yeah. And how we deal with situations and those kinds of things. But I also worked in detention for a few years, so really looking at... Like, you know, how does that happen, right? You know, like, where do you go and who do you hang out with? Sure. And, you know, what do you want to be? And all of that... The detention thing taught me a lot about an ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure, right? So the upstream prevention, those kinds of things, getting kids in situations where they're safe, they're supported, more than one voice, right? You know, I don't want to get too, you know, into the industry speak kind of stuff, but there's risk and protective factors, right? Caring adults, protective factor. Sure. Used to be one, now it's three. So parents, church, sports, school, extracurriculars, power high, I mean, you name it. And the community has a lot, but there's still not enough. There's never enough support for kids. Yeah. Especially, I would think, kids coming from single-parent families and a single parent is having to work two, three jobs, make ends meet, and all the other things. And then that parent now hopefully knows that the Boys and Girls Club is a place that they can go. And the cost is never a barrier. Correct. Right. So it's accessible, it's affordable, and it's consistent. Those are the three keys, you know? So there will never be a financial barrier, you know, as we... It's always been super affordable, but even more affordable now, outside of COVID. And then we still provide financial assistance. You know, in the summer, we have all-day programs. So ensuring that kids can participate. And then that consistency, it's every day. You know, I mean, we're out of school, after school, summer, you know, so you have that. And I think that's critical, right? Sure. So not only if you're a single parent, lots of dual working parents, and we want to do more, right? I mean, we want to provide more services, more programs, more activities, be in more spaces, and some challenges. And you did that, though, with 9-R. You partnered this last couple years ago, was it? Or this year that you partnered with 9-R. Yeah, it's been going on for two years. So there used to be a kids camp program after school, and we basically merged those to the benefit of all, right? But right now, there's still a challenge around finding people to run the programs. But it did allow us to expand our footprint. Clearly, you know, most school districts, 70%, I think, is the number of school districts in Colorado, are now on a four-day school week, which includes Bayfield, Ignacio, Mancos, Dub Creek, Delores, you know, you never want to run around other than Durango. And so being able to step in that space in Bayfield and provide an all-day program for those kids on Friday, and, again, the power of collaboration, you know, with the Pine River Library, with the San Juan Mountain Association, you know, giving those kids experiences, you know, in that out-of-school time. But making sure they're safe because it's getting more and more challenging. Oh, and you think of all the, you know, I was just coming through the parking lot at the Chamber Building. Sure. And some youth walked, you know, through the parking lot. Sure. And I, in my mind, just did a little stereotypical thing, you know, and I'm looking at them going, oh, there's nothing but three troubles right there. One kid had a full ski mask, and they were pushing a cart from one of the supermarkets, you know, and then just left it in the middle of the parking lot. And I was like, really? And they just mumbled something, and I just watched them walk away. Did you wave your fist and say, get off my lawn? Get off my lawn. Because that's what I call myself now at this stage of my career, the get-off-my-lawn guy. Well, and it's something that, you know, I'm looking, and I'm thinking of, you know, Boys and Girls Club and just going. Sure. And, again, we're so fortunate to have the facility and to be able to have those kids, you know, and what age does it start? So we go from five years old at the school-based sites up to 18 at the main sites. Okay. So it's a broad gamut, basically K-12. Yeah. You know, it's going to be those age groups. And, you know, the real gap is still middle school and high school, you know, activities and opportunities for those kids because it looks different, right? I mean, they're, you know, five to 12 years old. Sure. You know, I mean, the current club works really well. You know, parents want their kids to be, you know, supervised. But then as they get a little bit older, they want autonomy. Developmentally they change. And, you know, how do we find that balance in providing safe, supervised, appropriate activities with the autonomy and freedom that they want? And where the cool kids hang. Well, exactly. Yeah. And I wish I knew where that was. Well, it's at the Boys and Girls Club. And you're a cool kid, Vaughn. We're going to come right back and we'll talk more about the Boys and Girls Club here on Durango Digs. AM 1240, KDGO and 98.3 FM. Stay tuned.