The Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors will be kicking off its Sponsor-A-Youth drive campaign today with a road block at Main and Commerce street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Please drive through and show your support for our youth. We are seeking the support of individuals and businesses in our community to help keep the club’s facilities and program available to our youth.

We need your support!

The club urges anyone willing to help with an investment that will make the difference in the life of a local child, to please call the club at 601-304-5548 or mobile unit at 601-597-5992 and make a pledge or schedule a time to sit down and learn more about how your support can help.

Since 2002, the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Miss-Lou has been a fixture in the area, quietly fulfilling its mission to reach out to young people and provide them with a safe place to interact, learn and grow. Literally, thousands (more than 7,000) of youth have used the club facilities and parents have been able to rely on the organization to be there for kids when they could not. This mission continues today.

The Boys and Girls Club serves more than 650 registered members every year. We graduate more than 15-20 youth yearly. We offer educational programs, after- school tutoring through licensed certified teachers, character and leadership courses, arts and crafts, daily living skills and health and recreation.

The Boys and Girls Club receives assistance from our local government, which includes contributions from both our city and county along with declining federal dollars. We need our community’s help to keep the doors open daily.

Thanks to some special investors in our community who take it upon themselves to sponsor our club; without them many of our children would not have a safe haven to go. The Boys and Girls Club provides a safe, supervised place for them to be during those critical after-school hours.

Families, especially needy families, depend on the club as a safe and supervised place for children to spend the evening while some of their parents work.

I, along with the Boys and Girls Club Board of Directors, will be making phone calls during the coming months as we meet with prior donors and new prospects we hope will join us to Sponsor-A-Youth.

We hope everyone will open their hearts and support this worthy cause.

Contributions may be mailed to: Boys and Girls Club of the Miss-Lou, P.O. Box 781, Natchez, MS 39121.

Fay Minor is the director of the Boys & Girls Club.