The good news is that our costs are covered for the program. The bad news is that as a reimbursement grant, we don’t actually see $2.5 million dollars. Trust me, I would love to be given a $2.5 million dollar check and told to “go save lives”.

The terms of this grant are as follows:

• We open a site on each Marshall elementary school campus as well as the two middle school campuses.
• Each program will be free to all attendees given the following exceptions:
• Must be an MISD student
• Must be in good standing with the Club.
• There will be transportation home each day

Pretty cool. It is a win-win-win situation for all of Marshall. I am sure there will be more of this in the near future.

1. Chesapeake Energy Classic. 4/30 (part of the 7 on 7 football program)
2. Progressive Chiropractic Shootout. 5/14 (part of the 7 on 7 football program)
3. Jason Otter Basketball Camp. May 21
4. Sulluivans Super Bowl. 5/28 (part of the 7 on 7 football program)
5. Lemonade Week. June 6-11
6. Kim Lake Memorial State Championship BBQ. 6/9-6/10
7. Adventure Club West (Hallsville). 6/6 – 8/5
8. Adventure Club East (Waskom). 6/6 – 8/5
9. Adventure Club Central (Marshall) 6/6 – 8/5
10. Challenger British Soccer Camp. 8/15-8/19

Lots going on in this Club for our kids!

The good news is that Tavon is a Junior. Though the honor of Youth of the Year is earned and not guaranteed, Tavon does have the insight of how the competition works and could be well prepared for a run in 2012. The other piece of good news is that Tavon will be presented the “Runner Up Trophy”. We are unsure, though, that he is the actual runner up, or every other state YOTY gets that award.

Tavon’s YOTY speech is available at http://www.youtube.com/user/BGCBP.

The Club has had a lot of people call and congratulate Tavon for being our first State qualifier. On behalf of Tavon, we thank everyone for their support.

• This is the first YOTY from our Club to advance to the state level. In our immediate neighborhood, Tyler has had a Youth of the Year advance to Austin.
• The YOTY is the highest individual honor a Club kid can receive.
• Since the 50’s the national YOTY has been presented by the President of the United States, beginning with Eisenhower (I believe).
• A YOTY can receive close to $25,000 in scholarships.
• Those involved in the National YOTY get huge opportunities on behalf of the Club in the future. For example, Brittny Cantero was afforded the opportunity to serve as a BGCA youth delegate all summer for the BGCA’s European tour.

For the organization, it is exciting. It is a tangible display that we are changing lives, whether we are educating, allowing kids to be kids and play with their friends, or providing hope and opportunity. I often say that I have the best staff around and they prove it on a day-in day-out basis. Last year’s inaugural “Billy Thomas Award” was won by Chanel Jones. Billy Thomas was the Exec of the Club in Mt. Vernon New York who inspired national spokesman, Denzel Washington.

Second,  it is clearly an illustration to Tavon and our kids in the Club that being a good kid, staying out of trouble, and getting good grades will pay off. Without belaboring the point to the kids, I think they realize what the Club is doing for them.

I am extraordinarily excited about the opportunity for Tavon. From someone who was part of the first round in Houston: He is an amazing kid with an amazing story.

We agree. Best of luck and Tavon, you have already made us proud!

Before I begin, let me point out a few background facts that need to be out there. First, Marshall has a back pack program. A back pack program allows kids in need to take home a back pack filled with food to sustain them through the weekend. Second, the back pack program is sponsored by the Optimists Club and is a partnership with the MISD and the East Texas Food Bank. Thirdly, last week, the Optimists raised awareness for this program by encouraging a 24-hour fast. They told me that it was a mere $150 to feed a kid through the backpack program for one school year. Finally, not having food for 24 hours was extremely uncomfortable, eye opening, and not as easy as I thought. My wife, Karen, and I were showing solidarity with the Optimists as we know many of them socially and with my job at the Boys & Girls Club we are both sympathetic to kids in need. Let me chronicle our experience.

Due to some personal conflicts, we started on Saturday at noon as opposed to the Optimists Thursday – Friday fast. At 11:30, Karen and I pigged out. We ate as many carbs as we could. I know I ate like I was going on Survivor and didn’t want to eat the bugs. I felt more sick gorging myself.

Things were going along well until Noah’s dinner at 5:30. We both started thinking about food and not eating. We both were drinking lots of water and continued to drink water. This also meant a lot of trips to the bathroom. Around 7pm our stomachs were completely audible. Around 8pm our stomachs were cramping and starting to hurt. Your body
produces gas in your stomach in an attempt to fill it, so you also burp a lot. These are not burps like when you drink a Coke, that come easy due to carbonation, but slightly painful, as if they were being wrung out of your stomach like water out of a wet dish towel. We went to be early.

Neither of us slept real well, either tossing an turning, waking up to drink more water in an effort to subdue the stomach pains, or getting up to go to the bathroom because of said water. It was when we finally woke up that the pain subsided in the stomach, but the other physical effects were felt. Karen had a big headache, I had a little headache and was a little disoriented. Both of us were very lethargic and clearly not thinking clearly. My patience, which I think I have a lot of, was extremely thin. Because of some of these effects, the Partee family left church early as we were collectively far from ourselves. So what did we learn? Clearly, hunger is a huge issue for our kids. Your mind changes, you have physical issues, you can’t concentrate – and we were only fasting for 24 hours. Think of the kids pre-back pack program, who were without food for 48 hours. Does anyone doubt that
there may have been discipline issues because of their hunger? Lack of focus on their classes or incomplete homework? Missed school because they were not physically up to it? We also learned that even though we fasted for 24 hours, we still didn’t totally get it. We had the benefit of loading up on food before our experiment. We had the benefit of rushing to a full fridge after 24 hours and one second.

What Karen and I learned was that being hungry is no fun, but our minds were still in a bit of a different state because we knew what was coming and honestly, we could quit whenever we wanted to. The fridge was always just a few feet away. I can also tell you that I will share this experience with my staff at the Club and with my Board of Directors. While we already feed kids every night and our Kids Cafe program was a priority in our budget, I
will let them know that it is incumbent upon us to make sure NO child at our club needs to be hungry. The Club does great things for kids, but I realize none more important than feeding them. I want to thank the Optimists for taking on a project with such meaning to the community and giving me the opportunity to personally experience, albeit a small amount, hunger.