We Wish You Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year      
Enabling & Inspiring Youth to Reach Their Full Potential in a Safe and Nurturing Environment.
                                                                                                                                       
  It Just Takes One

Changing Lives
 
      
Ethan Roy has been a club member for seven years.  Ethan was a troubled youth who routinely was involved with some type of altercation. He was even suspended for an entire summer from the Bella Vista Unit. Fast forward several years and we can see a vast transformation. It all began when Ethan became involved with the Keystone Club character & leadership program. Significant behavior changes could be noticed.  Involvement in the Keystone Club seemed to be helping Ethan set and achieve positive life goals.
One day late last spring, Ethan approached the Unit Director about becoming a staff member. At only sixteen he was not eligible to serve in the Jr. Staff Program for another six months.  Ethan wasn't daunted, he became instrumental in building Bella Vista's Keystone Club and was rewarded for his long hours and effort with being given more responsibility at the Bella Vista Unit.  At this point in time, all his work was voluntary and credited to the required service hours in the Keystone Club.
After Ethan turned seventeen, in recognition for his hard work, he reached his goal of being chosen for the Jr. Staff Program. Once the troubled Club member, Ethan was now the mentor striving to enable and inspire other youth to reach their full potential.  Ethan has surpassed his service hours goal and was elected by his peers President of the new Keystone Club. He has exceeded his academic goal of attaining a 3.0 grade point average.  With staff and program support, he is now achieving his weight loss goals and moving towards living a healthier lifestyle.
Ethan will be applying for the 2015-2016 Youth of the Year.  He exemplifies what an investment in a child can accomplish over time - healthy lifestyles, academic success, and making positive life choices.  He has shown tremendous growth and development, but is still setting goals towards a great future.
Healthy Lifestyles - NutriBullet University 
   
The NutriBullet University continues at the McKinney Unit with kids enjoying healthy smoothies on a daily basis.  The project's goal, supported by Capital Brands,  is to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among children and to improve the overall quality of their diets and food choices. Each day of the program, youth use NutriBullet nutrition extractors to make nutritious vegetable and fruit-based NutriBlast smoothies for themselves in addition to receiving information about the health benefits of each ingredient.   The youth have been drinking daily fruit and vegetable smoothies since late October.
 

Rogers Unit club members enjoyed a guest presenter from the University of Arkansas.  The guest conducted an activity for our science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) program. In this STEAM activity, the kids learned about hyper-solutions and how certain solids and liquids can interact to form crystals.  As the picture demonstrates, these types of activities capture the youth's interest. 
Character & Leadership - Merry "Cans-Mas"

 
The Keystone Club hosted a "Merry Cans-Mas" event.  The event was for families and kids of all ages. To enter the event, families needed to bring two canned food items or one dollar to participate in the fun activities.  A bouncy house, an inflatable basketball game, face painting, and crafts were activities available for kids while for adults a bake sale and a silent auction were highlights. Attendees could also  also participate in a hour of free Zumba lessons during the event. The Keystone Club raised $224 which went toward providing Christmas presents for less fortunate kids. The group was also able to secure eight boxes of canned food items that will be distributed to several families in need for the holidays! With all of the donations of money and canned food items, the Keystone Club is impacting the lives of several deserving families.  For this great group, giving back is what it is all about!  
Academic Success - Homework Completion 
 


In the Power Hour homework assistance program youth earn points for completing their homework assignments. The top 10 club members at each facility with outstanding completion rates receive rewards as incentives.   Bella Vista staff members came-up with an innovative way of doling out rewards by using party food along with an educational spin.  Club members with the most points for the month created their own Christmas trail mix and wrote down their unique recipe. Using this strategy, club members had the opportunity to experiment with ingredients of their choice to create a tasty snack while also documenting the measurements within their recipe.

Character & Leadership - SMART Girls

Encouraging girls to have healthy attitudes and lifestyles, SMART (skills mastery & resistance training) Girls helps them reach their full potential. Through dynamic sessions, group activities, field trips and mentoring opportunities with adult women, Club girls enjoy the opportunity to build skills for eating right, staying physically fit, getting good health care, and developing positive relationships.   
Character & Leadership - Bentonville Christmas Parade
  
The Carl & Alleen McKinney Unit Torch Club staff and youth held their club Christmas party Friday, December 11th. Torch Club is a service-learning character & leadership club for youth ages 11-13. Our young leaders enjoyed an Italian dinner followed by Christmas games. They topped the evening off with Christmas stocking and cookie decorating! The fun continued to the following Saturday when the Torch Club rode on the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County float in the Bentonville Christmas parade   

Character & Leadership - Giving Back

The Bella Vista Torch Club (a leadership, service-learning club for youth ages 11-13) donated $137.61 from a Penny Contest to the Gravette Animal Shelter. The money went to the animal shelter's special fund for families who can't afford to pay for medical needs that arise from unexpected circumstances. The youth organized the contest for Club kids from ages 6-10 years old to see who could raise the most change. Every age had their very own jar that was displayed at the front desk. The kids decided to make it a "naughty or nice" theme where pennies and dollar bills where good and any silver was bad. People would bring-in silver and sabotage other age groups' jars. The silver was subtracted from the penny's and dollars to determine the total for which age group would win.  A very creative way of giving during the holiday season. 
When: January 3oth,  beginning at 12:30 PM
Where:
Avondale Chapel, 2005 E Central Ave, Bentonville
Registration Fee: $90 in advance $100 at door
(all fees are considered a donation) 
Lunch Provided

Register HERE 
 
CAN YOU HELP KEEP A CHILD SAFE?

  
Your gift of $25 per month for a year can provide a safe, developmentally rich place for a deserving child!   We are classified as a 501 (c)(3) charity and your gift is tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

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DEVELOPING HEALTHY CHILDREN 
WHO ARE SUCCESSFUL IN SCHOOL &
MAKE POSITIVE LIFE CHOICES

Stay Connected 

Can You Help a Youth Reach Their Full Potential?
Caring Adults are needed to be trusted guides to middle school age youth.  If you can commit 1 -hour per week to be a mentor to a youth who needs you, inquire HERE .

Not interested in being a mentor?   You can see other volunteer opportunities HERE.


Thank You Volunteers! 
 
The staff and the administration of the Club wishes  to extend our gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers who have given thousands of hours towards making the Club a better place for our kids!   Your work does not go unnoticed. 

SMART Girls & Art of Manliness Party
The McKinney Unit celebrated their Art of Manliness and SMART Girls course completion with a party. The youth worked on an art project with Abrakadoodle to make Christmas cards for people in a nursing home.  One of the highlights of the night was a boys vs. girls dodgeball match. Much to the chagrin of the girls, the boys won!!!   
May the Force Be With You

Elisha Scott is a McKinney Unit member who is generally quiet.  Elisha's favorite thing to do at the club is playing pool and he is a huge Star Wars fan. Each day he wears a different Star Wars shirt.  For the celebration of the Star Wars premiere, a couple of staff dressed up as Star Wars characters. Mr. Tanner painted his face to look like Darth Maul.  Elisha felt a connection when the staff he sees every day shared his interest in Star Wars. He was thrilled to be able to play pool with "Darth Maul".  When Elisha's name was called for his ride, he gave Mr. Tanner the biggest hug and said "Bye Darth Maul!!"  Elisha' body coordination is affected by prior surgeries. Because of this, he doesn't make friends easily. Relating to staff members is important to him and makes him feel like he 'belongs' at the club.