Your support helped Javy earn his dream job

Hector (Javy) Vazquez literally grew up at Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland.

At age 4, he often went with his mother to the local Club, where she worked at the front desk. Those visits made an impression: As soon as he was eligible, Javy became a Club member.

“Boys & Girls Club,” he says, “was always the place I wanted to be.”

Fast forward to February 2019. Javy, now 22, used the skills and opportunities you provided him as a Club supporter to fulfill a lifelong dream: He graduated from the Cleveland Police Academy, became a patrolman in the Cleveland Police Department and is now protecting our neighborhoods.

Your support also helped Javy’s mom, Sandra Del Valle, the former front-desk worker who rose through the ranks at Boys & Girls Clubs of Cleveland to become area director for the West Side.

Javy was a regular at the Club, participating in everything it had to offer. He would go on to participate in basketball, cross country and football at Lincoln West High School but his favorite sport was always baseball. He was a standout player for Lincoln West and his travel teams.

After graduating from high school, he studied criminal justice at Cuyahoga Community College and worked at BGCC’s King Kennedy Club, where he was a favorite among the members. “They (kids) want to be loved, and they want to know you care about them,” he says.

Javy says his experience working with kids is already helping him in his new job as a police officer.  He says he hopes to create more opportunities for police to interact with youth in positive ways.

Your support of the Clubs has helped create success stories like Javy’s.

“The Club kept me off the street and out of trouble,” he says. “If it wasn’t for the Boys & Girls Club, I would not be where I am now.”