Longtime Boys & Girls Club kid connects her experience to BW

A Baldwin Wallace University student’s 10-year membership in Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland prompted the organization’s CEO to speak to a BW service group in Berea last week.

BGCC President and CEO Ron Soeder, a 1976 BW graduate and winner of the university’s 2015 Alumni Merit Award, spoke Jan. 31 to the BW chapter of Circle K International at the request of BW junior Coryonna Robinson and chapter president Kiran Sadhra.

Robinson, a Circle K member, belonged to the King Kennedy Boys & Girls Club for 10 years and wanted BW students to learn more about the Clubs. Circle K is a service and social justice organization affiliated with Kiwanis International.

Soeder, who has led BGCC for the past 11 years, told chapter members they have opportunities to make a difference in Cleveland. As a result, the chapter is planning to hold a Day of Caring – a day in which volunteers from a company or organization volunteer on a project — at a Boys & Girls Club. “We are really excited about the opportunity,” Robinson said. Robinson is a Scholl Scholar, a scholarship program exclusive to Boys & Girls Club members. She remains close to the staff members who supported her during her time at the Club, including current King Kennedy Club Director Richard Starr, who is also working on his degree at BW.

BGCC provides safe, fun places for kids after school in Cleveland’s most poverty-stricken neighborhoods. Approximately 1,000 kids a day enter the organization’s 15 Clubs, where programming is centered around healthy lifestyles, academic success and character development.