Located on a quiet side street in the centre of the city, the Boys and Girls Club of Moncton, or BGC Moncton as it is now known, has helped kids overcome barriers and challenges for sixty years.
Its mission is to provide a safe place for youth where they can learn, play and develop life skills.
In the summer months, over 160 youth from toddlers to teenagers attend daycare or summer camps at the Moncton club.
Morgan Sarson started attending in grade four. Now, the 18-year-old works as a youth leader.
“It's like a family environment. Everyone helps everyone out. Everybody looks out for each other. It helped me in academics, it helped me with my talking. I wouldn't normally do these kind of things. It helped me with job experience because now I'm working with them. It's like a full circle,” said Sarson.
The federal and provincial governments announced over $220,000 in funding for the club on Thursday.
Monsef Lakouas, the club's executive director, said the money has already been spent renovating an educational space to help deliver programming -- like tutoring for struggling students -- some of whom are on the edge of dropping out.
“What would the world or life look like for a child or youth that doesn't see a bright future, or doesn't graduate high school or go to university or doesn't have a job?” said Lakouas.
Lakouas says up to a third of Moncton's 8,000 Anglophone students have challenges at school, but he wants to reduce that number.
“As a community, are we going to allow our children and youth in the streets being part of violence, or crime, or gangs? Or hear stories, sad stories here in Moncton recently of somebody being murdered? That, as a community, we cannot allow those things to happen under our watch,” said Lakous.
But it's not just educational issues facing some of these kids.
“There are some youth that are couch surfing in our community right now. We have seen some challenges at home, some barriers. Could it be drug addiction? we have seen some problems, poverty, homelessness,” he said.
The educational space also helps kids dealing with social and mental health issues. Rébécca Ethier, the club’s director of educational programs, said some of the kids struggle with mental health issues, particularly anxiety.
“Our grade 8 students are going into large high schools and they are combining with other schools, going into a larger environment can cause some anxiety. Some youth are able to transition, but others have more of a challenge with that,” said Ethier.
The club's end goal is to see the boys and girls grow up, graduate from high school and become successful adults.
Ethier encourages anyone in the Greater Moncton area who wants to volunteer at BGC to call them at (506) 858-0949.
