Today Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), the nation’s #1 advocate for kids and teens, launched their new Boys & Girls Clubs – Alumni & Friends Club to engage its estimated 16 million Club Alumni. Alongside Alumni & Friends Club spokesperson Shaquille O’Neal, numerous other celebrity ambassadors, hundreds of local Boys & Girls Clubs, corporate and media partners, BGCA is calling former Club members to join the movement in building great futures for the next generation.
“Boys & Girls Clubs have impacted the future of multiple generations, with 54 percenti of our Alumni saying that their Club saved their lives,” said Jim Clark, president & CEO of BGCA. “We want to reconnect with the millions of former Club kids and issue a call to action to come together as advocates and ambassadors for Clubs around the country, so that every kid in America has an open door to a great future.”
It’s estimated that one out of every 16 Americans has been a Club kid at one point in their life. In an effort to reconnect, BGCA is leveraging the power of social media and rallying its celebrity alumni and friends as part of this effort with well-known supporters like Shaquille O’Neal, Jennifer Lopez, Usher, Evander Holyfield, Nick Cannon, Queen Latifah, Victor Cruz, Michael Phelps and others encouraging their social media fans and followers and the millions of Club Alumni to join.
More than 45 of BGCA’s corporate supporters are also joining this effort long-term, with companies like Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Nestle USA, Anthem Foundation, AT&T, Staples, Raytheon, Comcast NBCUniversal, Fox Sports, Bank of America among others engaging their combined millions of employees, as well as friends and followers on social media to join the Alumni & Friends Club and impact a kid’s life forever.
“It is imperative for all Club Alumni to come together to support kids in this country,” said Larry Young, president and CEO of Dr Pepper Snapple Group. Larry and his wife Colette co-chair BGCA’s Alumni & Friends initiative. “My Boys & Girls Club was an
