Boys and Girls Club alumni speak out

By TAMMY TREAT

Log Cabin Staff Writer

The Boys and Girls Club of Faulkner County has a vested interest in shaping the future of local youth, according to several adults who participated in Boys and Girls club activities in their youth.

The club’s goal is to provide opportunities in academic success and character building in an environment that is safe. A few alumni shared their stories to convey just how essential a role the club played in shaping their own futures.

Bill Miller, at the urging of his wife, Joyce, chronicled his story on paper. Joyce said Bill, who died in 2005, shared his account of the club because she knew it was important to him.

When the club first opened it was the Boys Club.

Bill Miller was 10 years old when the Boys Club opened in his hometown, Pine Bluff, Ark. In his writings, Bill recalled that he and his friends raced from school to the club the day it started membership registration and they made it to the front of the line. Bill believed he was the first to sign up for the club there. 

Even though character development is the cornerstone of the club, Bill had a favorite activity type at the club, organized sports. He participated in several different sports, served as water boy and even officiated basketball games for the club when he was in high school. Joyce said both of Bill’s parents worked and before the club opened, Bill hung out in the streets with his friends after school without adult supervision. He told Joyce that he wasn’t sure where he would have ended up if it were not for the club. 

Bill went on to college and majored in journalism. He went into the military and was an intelligence officer. When he retired, the Millers returned to Arkansas and eventually landed in Faulkner County, where they would assist in establishing the Faulkner County Boys and Girls Club that the community now enjoys.

Bill documented in his memoir that “forty-five years later, my wife would become the president of the Conway Boys & Girls Club and president of the Arkansas Area Council of the Boys & Girls Club of America.” Bill served on the advisory board.

Joyce is still a member of the Boys and Girls Club board. She would love to establish an Alumni Association in Faulkner County. Those interested can contact the Faulkner County Bob Nabholz Boys and Girls Club unit.

The story is much the same for Clay Gordon who is a more current product of the club and an alumnus of the Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club.

Clay also boasted of the sports the club has to offer and said the club taught him the value of teamwork and how to win and lose with dignity. He was the recipient of college scholarships from the club and worked at the Fort Smith Boys and Girls Club during his summer breaks from college. 

Clay’s dream and passion was to work in the construction industry. He landed a job with Nabholz Construction, a huge supporter of the club, after he graduated with a degree in Construction Management from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Tim Nabholz said to invest in the development of today’s youth is an investment in the future of the community.

Clay spoke with great pride about the perfect match his story has been from being a Boys & Girls Club Alumni and having the pleasure to work with such a compassionate company who is a supporter of the community. He currently serves on the Faulkner County Boys & Girls Club board of directors and is chair of the boards building committee for the new Bob Nabholz Unit.  

The Club added girls to the mix in the early 90’s. Area director for the Faulkner County Boys and Girls Club, Marie Abrams, is also alumnus of the club. 

In her youth, Marie enjoyed the art and crafts and educational programs the club offered. She recalled a time when a staff member let her tag along to a biology class at a local college. She believed that trip was the turning point from a time when she lacked direction to the planning stages of her newfound desire to attend college. 

While attending college, Marie volunteered at the Faulkner County Boys and Girls Club and worked with youths in the educational programs. The club eventually brought her on staff. She still sings praises of the educational team building benefits of Power Hour, the after school program where staff and volunteers assist the children with homework. 

Marie also boasted about the boys program Passport to Manhood, which is run by three college students from the University of Central Arkansas. For girls, Marie said the club offers Girl Smarts. Both are designed to groom the youth into responsible young adults.

Currently the club operates at full capacity. Construction of the new Bob Nabholz Boys and Girls Club that will be located on the northeast corner of the new Conway Station Park, will start this summer. Early next year the club will open its new 15,000-square-foot building and have the ability to serve even more local youth. 

(Staff writer Tammy Treat can be reached at tammy.treat@thecabin.net and 505-1277.)