Y-12 supports the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley

  • Posted: Wednesday, July 21, 2021, 12:07 pm

Y-12 supports the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley is one of many organizations that helps provide childcare services to families. By the Boys & Girls Clubs keeping its doors open during the pandemic, children were able to continue being children.

CNS sought to help community organizations respond to critical needs throughout the pandemic by providing contributions rapidly and responsibly. An important step was directing CNS Community Investment Fund dollars to the East Tennessee Foundation’s Neighbor to Neighbor Fund. Together, CNS and the Foundation were able to quickly get much-needed resources to several nonprofit organizations in East Tennessee.

Keeping services available for children
In 2020, with COVID‑19 raging, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley vowed to keep the doors open and provide critical childcare services to as many children and families as possible. Using a $2,500 grant from the East Tennessee Foundation through the CNS Community Investment Fund, matched by another $2,500 from ETF’s Youth Endowment, the Boys & Girls Clubs were able to extend service hours at four club locations in Knox, Blount, Loudon, and Anderson counties. This extension provided extended childcare services at club locations for children of essential workers who had to work during the COVID‑19 crisis.

The Boys & Girls Clubs also provided daily take‑home boxed meal service for youth at clubs located in Knoxville’s public housing developments. Many of the children lacked transportation to get their meals from schools and would have gone hungry without this service.

“Should I send my child back to school or opt for virtual learning?” Many parents found themselves asking this question in the past year. Boys & Girls Clubs understood parents’ concerns and collaborated with school systems to offer virtual learning pods at four local clubs.

“Providing this service has been good for students and their families in many ways,” said Bart McFadden, president and CEO. “Parents of club members have been able to continue to work, secure in the knowledge that their child was in a safe environment that allows them the opportunity for success.”

McFadden also noted that for students, coming to the club each day provided a sense of normalcy in a highly stressful time.