Helping the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Clarita Valley take the next step in serving the community’s youth, the Kids Foot Locker Foundation gave the local organization a $5,000 grant Wednesday.
The foundation chose the local Boys and Girls Club as one of 10 locations nationwide to receive an even chunk of the $50,000 that was raised by customers donating $1, $3 or $5 at check-out locations in store and online during the retailer’s month-long “Add-A-Buck” campaign.
Ten Boys and Girls Clubs received the donations.
“What the company did this year is break up the company into 10 regions so the store that raised the most money got to donate to their local club,” said Stuart Stone, district manager for Foot Locker.
According to Stone, the Valencia location took this to heart and raised enough funds to support the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club.
“Seeing the smiles on their faces is exciting,” Stone said. “This is really special.”
The $5,000 will be divided between the valley’s two locations and will fund sports, recreation, the learning center and the computer labs, said David Menchaca, chief executive officer of the Santa Clarita Valley Boys and Girls Club.
He was grateful for the chance to showcase the club’s kids and qualified staff.
“We have really good kids here that I’m really proud of,” Menchaca said. “The moral of the story is that the more recognition the club receives from the community… the more kids that come here.”
Menchaca said the Boys and Girls Club provides a location where children can interact and build relationships with their peers in a safe environment through education and recreation.
“We have such a diverse and accepting group and everyone gets along really well,” Menchaca said. “Here we’re teaching kids about character, leadership, how to do well in school and how to respect each other… and we see that impact.”
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