This is one incredible leadership class! They have been nothing more than a joy to work with and their commitment to our youth is truly inspiring.
Chris Quasula, Branch Executive
Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley – Grant Woods/Mesa Branch
Our Mesa Leadership class had a great service project this morning. We cleaned up around the Mesa Boys & Girls Club at 221 W. Sixth Ave. We mowed grass, repainted the lines on the basketball court and added the adjacent school’s logo. We painted a long section of the block fence where a cool mural will be installed next month for the children. We also cleaned and painted the big cement chair and ramada. We still have more work to do inside but we got a lot done today! #MesaLeadership2016
Members of Mesa Leadership class who participated in this project.
A write up about the service project from class member Diana Clevenger:
Mesa Leadership Class 2016 Work Day, 01/30/16
Our class elected to work on the Grant Woods Boys and Girls Club this year. The work scope was done in partnership with the on-site manager of the Boys and Girls Club. Many of the elements of the project were deemed to be necessary just through completing a site visit and walk through with the manager. We have determined the facility needed 4 major areas. Leaders from the class were identified for each of the categories and have been responsible for the success of their scope of the project. Each of the leads reports progress, needs and timeline to the project lead who communicates financial need and activities to the rest of the teams and the entire class.
The book club has been collecting supplies and books for the school for the academic enhancement of the students as well as collecting books for students. They have been doing a great job.
The playground enhancement team had great aspirations for the playground. They determined the soccer fields need goals, the basketball court needed painted and a new logo, the swing set needs to have the sand removed and the replaced by wood chips. Additionally, the school and Boys and Girls Club would like to have a BBQ set available for the community events they host.
The mural project allows the community and the students to be involved in creating something to enhance the visual appearance of the playground as well as allow the students and families to have a personal vested ownership in the facility.
The office renovation team has struggled as the team lead for this part of the project recently resigned from the class and a new leader emerged to try to accomplish this part of the project. This would update and restore some of the existing office furniture and remove and replace the desk tops that are no longer structurally sound.
The finance/fundraising team has identified several ways in which we can raise the funds necessary to meet many of these projects. We are selling Jamba Juice buy one get one cards and if all of the card sell we will have $2,500. We are having a yard sale on February 20th at a Church near Country Club and University. We have had a number of items donated including paint for the basketball courts and base paint for the mural. We are working on donations for office equipment and have received donations for all of the office equipment and books.
Our class scheduled a work day at the Boys and Girls Club for January 30, 2016 at 0700 hours. We had a great turn out from the class and everyone came with tools to work for the day. It was a cool morning and Jaime came prepared with her friend Jay who brought 4 boxes of donuts! The class broke into two work groups and began cleaning the basketball courts, the playground area around the overstuffed chair and removing weeds and debris from in front of the wall. Sharon’s husband brought a lawn mower to help remove the grass and weeds in front of the wall.
Everyone brought brushes, paint rollers, trays and their willingness to work. The wall was painted in no time with more than ten people working on it. Jill Adair had a great idea that we could use the paint we had to touch up the kid’s favorite chair and shade awning. Ironically, the paint color we had matched perfectly so we were able to spruce it up easily.
The basketball crew taped off all of the lines on the court and the center court logo was placed after everything had been painted. The court looked fresh and new and the logo was fantastic. Great work!
Great job by everyone coming out and working together. We got so much done. We will likely have one more work day to assemble the BBQ, work on the mural and the office equipment. If all goes well we will host a BBQ, family fun day open house in March to celebrate.
Thanks for all the support, we will keep you posted.
Diana Clevenger
Mesa News Today 