But we’re not talking nutrition here.  We’re talking about a very important breakfast, perhaps the most important one you will eat this year.  At Suffolk Downs on June 24, 2010, there will be just such a breakfast.  It’s the Annual Community Breakfast for the Salesian Boys & Girls Club.  Perhaps you already received an invitation.  Maybe you have already bought tickets.

This year's breakfast will be held at Suffolk Downs.

This breakfast is important for two reasons.  First of all, it’s the principal fund raiser for our Club.  Over the past three years so many sources of funding that we relied on have dried up, disappeared, gone away.  Our membership fees of $20.00 per year just don’t cut it.

The amazing thing is that, in spite of all the budget cutbacks, we have not had to cut back on staff or programming.  In fact, we now run the Club a week longer than we did previously…into the first week of June!  And we even have capital improvement projects going on.  How do we do this?  With the help of our friends.  Friends like you who are reading this blog.

Dave Ferraro, Wally Bowe and Father John at our Breakfast in 2009.

Another good reason for attending this breakfast is to honor the memory of an outstanding staff member: Wally Bowe.  At the breakfast this year, the Don Bosco Award will be presented posthumously to Wally, for his years of dedicated service to young people.  Since he passed away in January, so many people have asked, “What can we do in memory of Wally?”  Well, here’s one thing you can do.  Come to breakfast.  Help the Club kids.

Call the Club (617-567-6626) or check out our web site (www.salesianclub.com) for details.  Hope to see you there!

Father John welcomes you to our Annual Community Breakfast!

All that's left of the locker room walls...

A few weeks ago, Father John announced that the Club had received a grant from the Mabel Riley Foundation for a new teen center to be constructed in the space formerly occupied by the Savio shower rooms and locker area.  Well, Joe Mario’s crew lost no time in cranking up the next phase of their project.

Actually, the check had not even cleared the bank when walls started coming down and workers started clearing mountains of debris.  Even a casual visitor to the Club would not fail to notice the dust cloud that settled over much of the building!

Tough work, but we got it done!

The new center will include an area for games, a lounge area, a small computer center, and a snack area for those insatiable teen-age appetites!  There will be an office/work area for a full-time Teen Center Director.  In effect, the new space will function as a “club within a club” for the older members.  It may even have its own dedicated entrance.

A view of what will be the lounge area.

Why all this?  Boys & Girls Clubs all over the country have experienced difficulty in keeping older club members around.  There is a definite drop in enrollment after the age of 13–not only here, but across the nation.  Teens want a space they can call “their own.”  Their needs are different; they need slightly different programming, and a little less structure than the younger members.  In short, they need to know that, when they come to the Club, they do not have to spend all their time “escaping their little brothers and sisters!”

Father John expects that, if all goes according to schedule, the new teen center will be ready for use in September 2010.  According to him, the hardest part now will be “deciding what furniture goes where!”

Fr. John is standing where the computers will be set up; he's pointing out one of several windows into the Games Room area.

From all of us to all of you, a Blessed Easter Season with its promise of new life!

Since the Boys & Girls Club was closed for the Easter weekend, we did some of our celebrating afterward.  We took advantage of an unusually warm Spring day to have our annual Easter Egg Hunt on the grounds.  What was different about this year’s event was the temperature.  At the time of the Hunt, the temperature outside was close to 90 degrees–a record for the City of Boston!  We had not had 90 degree weather since last August!

After all this...they better be good!

Now some of the Easter “eggs” had chocolate candy in them.  Need we say more?  What a mess!  At least the play money did not melt.  Thank God for little favors!

Over 50 Easter eggs were hidden throughout the property.  Every single one of them was found within a half hour.  Some of the eggs had candy, or rather, chocolate syrup; others had “Club Cash”; still others had real cash or change in them. 

I hope it's not chocolate!

But one egg was completely empty.  The lucky discoverer of that egg, Brianna Martinez, was not disappointed, because she knew it was the Grand Prize.  She ended up with $500 in Club Cash and a chocolate bunny rabbit which was kept in the freezer safe from  the heat.  Of course it was the Grand Prize–because that empty egg symbolized the tomb found empty on that first Easter morning!

Some of the highlights of this week were: Sports Uniform Day.  On Tuesday, any member who wore an athletic uniform or a team logo was awarded “Club Cash.”  The day was very special as we were visited by a group of Salesian seminarians from New Jersey.  This was an extremely talented group of young men.  They delighted our Club members with Chinese Yo-yo’s, Bagpipes, Card tricks and a host of other fun games and activities.  The only complaint that was heard was, “Why do they have to leave?  They’re so much fun!”

Wednesday was “Fashion Disaster” Day.  Club members were encouraged to dress “disastrously”–and that is what they did.  There were a lot of unusual fashion statements as well as more than a few outrageous hairdo’s.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get any photos of some of these disasters because, well…they ran from the camera (wisely).

Thursday was “Twin Day”, and members received Club Cash for pre-arranging with another Club member to come dressed alike.

Friday was “Club Spirit Day”, and members were encouraged to wear Club Colors or a Salesian Tee-shirt.  It was also “Bring a Friend for Free” Day, and club cash was given to any member who brought a friend to the Club who was NOT a member.  The guest, of course,  attended for free.  Brock, our program director, dusted off the Cotton Candy Machine–we can’t remember the last time we used it–and everyone enjoyed pizza for snack.

In the past they have sold raffle tickets, collected Christmas gifts for the Club members, hosted a yearly lunch for the Youth of the Year and other projects besides.  At the beginning of this school year, the management met with Father John and Brock Seefeldt and decided to expand the “lunch” program.  So now, we are happy to announce that each month, those members who are voted “Club Member of the Month” will be treated to a complimentary lunch at the Revere Ninety Nine with a Club Staff person.

Ryan Gray, Justin Baldassari & Michael Nastari

The writer of this blog had an opportunity to accompany the February “Outstanding Youths” to the Ninety Nine recently.  Michael Nastari, Justin Baldassari and Ryan Gray enjoyed a fantastic lunch and had a chance to meet Steve Tartarini, General Managing Partner of the Revere Ninety Nine. 

Steve Tartarini, Ninety Nine General Manager, congratulates the February Outstanding Club Members

In the words of one of the three honorees, “This is even better than snack time at the Club!”  Good grief!

Thank you, Steve and Ninety Nine Staff for supporting our Club!

Cleaned out locker rooms await demolition.

Father John Nazzaro has ambitious plans for the Club—and so do his friends and supporters.  Chief among them is Joe Mario, owner of Mario Real Estate.

“We need a dedicated space just for the teenagers,” says Father Nazzaro.  “Teens are an underserved population in our Club; having a place just for them will more than double the number of adolescents who come to the Club, increase the frequency of their visits and keep them here longer.  That’s the only way we can really have an impact on them.”

When Joe Mario heard about Father John’s plans to build a dedicated Teen Center in the old locker/shower room area of Savio Hall, he saw a big obstacle.  Tons of junk!  But it’s “junk” that we could use some day.  Joe feels that, in order to attract funders, they have to see a space that is completely cleared out and ready for construction.  They have to be able to visualize the new Teen Center.  And you can’t do that when you are lost in a forest of old computers, cafeteria tables, office chairs and the like.

Former shower room--future Teen Center.

So where to put all this “stuff?”  Not a problem.  Build three rooms in the old cafeteria now being used as a games room/snack room!  And so, with Joe’s help, the Club now has three partially finished rooms that will be part of the NEXT phase of construction, once the Teen Center is built.  Father John foresees that these three rooms will become an Art Room, a “Tween-agers’ Lounge and possibly a conference room.  And Joe Mario says that it will be even easier to get funders to donate for that phase of construction because—it’s already half done!

Joe Mario, Peter Scolaro (Board President), Fr. Tom Dunne (Salesian Provincial) and Fr. John inspect the new club construction.

So, maybe it is true that the best way to get a big project started is…to do something else!

Wally Bowe and Carlo Basile

January 31, 2010 was a sad day for me, the Salesian Boys and Girls Club and the entire East Boston Community because on that day we all lost a true role model and a dear friend. Wally was a mentor to me and my three brothers growing up and someone my mother could rely on to set a good example for her sons. I lost my father at a young age, which was hard on my family, but luckily we had Wally to fill this void. The good times I had with Wally are innumerable, but some that come to mind are the ski trips he would take me and my brothers on or the Sunday dinners he would attend with my family. He was more than just a friend; he was a part of my family and no matter where our lives took us Wally never forgot to check in to see how things were. Wally was the first person to reach out to me after I decided to run for public office and he said something to me that he must have said to thousands of people during his lifetime, “What can I do to help”.  Wally was more than a game changer, he was a life changer.
 
I want to thank Wally for all he has done for me, my family and for those whose lives he has touched. Wally you will never be forgotten and I will be forever grateful to you for all you have done. Wally and his family are in my thoughts and prayers.
 
God Bless,

Dave Ferraro, Wally Bowe & Fr. John Nazzaro

Representative Carlo Basile

Last week we shared with the young people the tragic news that over 200 young people, Salesian students, the “best and brightest” of their generation, had been buried alive in the rubble of the “ENAM” (National School for the Arts & Trades in Port-au-Prince, Haiti).  Sadly, several weeks later, the word is that the death toll may be even higher than we thought.  There have been no rescues.  All are presumed dead.

“ENAM” included a primary school, a professional school (many of those who were trapped in the rubble were preparing to be the next generation of leaders in their country), youth groups and a program for street children.

It’s all gone now.  Most of the other Salesian schools, parishes and retreat centers have been destroyed.

The National School for Arts & Trades, Port-au-Prince

The only bright spot in all of this…one of our young club members came to me the day after we explained what happened and told ME a list of things we could do to help the children of Haiti.  (Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around?)  Later I met some children who attend another Boys & Girls Club in the area, and they shared with me what they were doing for Haiti.  And just last week I walked into the lobby and spied a large water-cooler jug placed on one of the tables with a sign “Help the Children of Haiti.”  We didn’t have to tell our kids to do that.

It’s things like these that make us realize that we’re in the right business!

On Friday, January 8, we hopped into the van and began the four-and-a-half hour trip to Stony Point NY for the annual January Leadership Retreat or JLR as it’s called.   The weather was cold and damp.  There were flurries off and on until we got to the higher elevations between Danbury, CT and Newburgh, NY.  At that point things got really serious.  We got out of the van at a rest stop on I-84 to find that the name of that rest stop was very appropriate–Stormville!!  Evidently the locals knew something about the place that we didn’t!

Retreat participants go on a "Trust Walk"

We finally arrived at our destination at 5:30 pm to find that we had lots of company.  There would be well over 100 teens from Salesian clubs, parishes and youth centers all over the eastern United States.  After unpacking and settling in, the retreat began.  The evening was filled with ice-breakers, talks, prayers and pizza.  Everything wound up around 12:30 am and it was time for bed.

At 8 am it was “up and at ‘em” for fifteen solid hours of retreat activities, which included Mass and a penance service, as well as a brief sortie in the snow!  After the penance service, the participants had the opportunity to open letters of support they had received from their families and club staff.  After prayers, it was off to bed.

A lighter moment as retreatants pose under the eyes of Don Bosco!

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful, with plenty of activities and fun.  For only the second time this weekend, participants met with the leaders who brought them and reflected on how they might bring what they learned to their clubs and parishes back home.  The closing Mass was joyful, enthusiastic, and…crowded!  Father Tom Dunne, the Salesian Provincial, presided.  (It was Father Tom who, many, many years ago came up with the original idea of the Leadership Retreat.)

Good bys are always difficult, but it was time to take the next step.  We boarded the van and headed for “the Big Apple.”  We saw as much as we could from the van as it was bitter cold.  But then hunger and excitement got the better of us, and we braved the elements to see Times Square from sidewalk level.  After a fine dinner together and some souvenir shopping, we returned to the retreat house, and before long, were dreaming about the trip back home.

After an early rising and a little breakfast, we spent a few hours at the Palisades Center Mall, one of the largest in the country.  By 5:30 pm we were back in East Boston, wondering where the time went.  As time goes by, we hope to see what impact this weekend will have on our personal lives and the activities of the Club!

The best part of the trip is...COMING HOME!

Matthew gets his face painted.

Instead of the usual snack fare, Philadelphia Grill provided chicken tenders and french fries.  Everyone got a delicious Christmas cupcake to top off the menu.

And then, to the sound of jingle bells, Santa appeared!  After listening to the children’s requests, he directed them to the Dance Studio where they were able to pick up their gifts.  Some of the younger club members really struggled to manage their packages!

Have you been good? Of course!

We owe a lot of thanks to individuals and companies who helped make this evening a great one.  Thanks to the good folks from Harpoon Brewery who come each year to decorate our games room.  To the wonderful folks at Caturano & Company, a great big “thank you” for providing so many gifts.  We were privileged to have several folks from Caturano to visit with the children and help Santa distribute the gifts this year.

Thank you, Caturano & Company!