Abbeville Boys & Girls Club director inspires children to be the change
The Abbeville Boys & Girls Club continues to serve area children, although it had to reduce the number from 50 to 25 because of the pandemic. (contributed)
Many of us are familiar with the quote often attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Neandra Turner, executive director of the Abbeville Boys & Girls Club, tells that message to the children she serves every day. The quote has become second nature for youths who attend the club after school and during the summer.
“We provide the youth with a safe place for tutoring and other life skills, a place to learn how to be productive citizens,” Turner said. “The Abbeville Boys & Girls Club was established in 2014 and I joined in 2015. The old one from over 10 years ago shut down, and the youth had no place to grow and learn. Our leaders came together and founded the club that serves the area today.”
Turner and her staff used to accommodate more than 50 children every day and more during the summer session. But the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced that number to 25 children.
“When the pandemic hit, we shut down for six months. Our parents were concerned. But later in September we were back on,” Turner said. “We are very careful. When they get off the bus, we check their temperature and sanitize their hands. Then we ask where they have been to make sure they were not exposed. We have not had any cases here at the club. We practice masks and social distancing. If they don’t have a mask, we give them one.”
Grant puts modern learning tools in hands of kids at Abbeville Boys & Girls Club from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
To continue serving youths in Abbeville, Turner depends on support from corporations like the Alabama Power Foundation.
“Our relationship with the Alabama Power Foundation has been amazing. We have an Alabama Power representative on our board who brought us the application to the Elevate grant,” Turner said. “We received it this year and were so excited. We purchased 20 Chrome computers and a laser jet printer. Our other computers were so old, and it was nice to replace them with these top-of-the-line laptops from the Alabama Power Foundation.”
The laptops made a huge difference. Now the children take the computers from room to room, instead of having to be tied down to the computer room.
“The fact that the kids can take the Chromebooks to different parts of the club is just terrific. We are so thankful to the Alabama Power Foundation for this grant,” Turner said. “The kids are looking up everything, especially now after all the social justice events across the country. They are asking a lot of questions.”
Turner and her staff make sure the lines of communications with the children are open when it comes to social justice and other deep subjects.
“We teach the kids to be respectful to anyone no matter the skin color. We tell them they have to be respectful of all people, so they can get respect back. We ask them how they feel about social justice. Many of them want to be police officers on the front lines to help be the change they want to see in this world. The social justice movement has given them huge awareness. We also have a great relationship with the police, and they come and talk to the kids,” Turner said.
Turner said she will continue her mission of affecting the lives of youths in Abbeville.
“We will definitely apply again for the Elevate grant with the Alabama Power Foundation. That was so awesome when they approved the last one. We greatly appreciate them and their care for the kids,” Turner said.
Moral of this story? Go be the change you want to see in this world.
For more information, visit www.abbevillebgclub.com.
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