Youth Club Sparks Plans At Housing
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Del.icio.usThe Boys and Girls Club at Kauhale Nani hosts an Ohana Night from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at 310 Cane St. in Wahiawa to acquaint interested families with its youth program and new volleyball equipment.
A scavenger hunt also is planned at the event, which welcomes members age 7 to 17 years old. Yearly dues for the Boys and Girls Club is $1. For details and to RSVP for Ohana Night, call 294-8439.
“We are the only public housing outreach,” explained program director Neda Najibi. “We really want to help everyone.” Everyone includes parents and graduates of a 12-week parenting class for mothers (from Women In Need). They will be recognized at Ohana night.
With 31 children in the club, the agency hired Kauhale Nani resident Kathryn Pe as a program assistant. Pe graduated from the parenting class and has three children in the club, which offers an after-school power hour of homework help, reading and educational games. The club also has arts and crafts, ping pong, basketball and a pool table.
“One of the benefits of the Women In Need parenting skills class is that learning starts at home,” added Najibi. “If parents don’t teach the right things at home, then all the work of the Boys and Girls Club goes nowhere. It takes the support of the whole family if you are taking care of a child. As part of the program, the mothers in the class created backpacks filled with school supplies to give to all the (B&G Club) members before they started school.”
Najibi is excited about other club programs as well as community service projects. At the end of August, for example, additional computers will be brought in so parents can search online for jobs; Najibi also offers resume writing tips. The Go Green project recycles plastic bottles and cans, and the proceeds pay for a pizza party. Youths in the club’s Leaders in Training will participate in National Day of Action Sept. 27 by cleaning up within a one-mile radius of the center.
The club has used a state Department of Health grant to create a drug-prevention curriculum, lessons on abstinence, and a documentary of family interviews filmed by the children. (More are planned in the future.)
“Doing the documentaries builds the kids’ confidence,” said Najibi, an award-winning journalist and Cal. State-Northridge graduate.
“Now they have belief they can do something. They look forward to coming. I don’t have any kids, so to me, these are my kids. I’ll tell you straight up, when they grow up, I hope they come back to me one day and say, ‘Miss Neda, it was because of you.’”
The Wahiawa club will send a delegate to the Youth of the Year Academy, a six-week training session in January for public speaking and professional imaging.
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