On March 29, the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County held their 48th Annual Children’s Ball at the U.S. Grant hotel. The event was open to everyone who wanted to support the Boys and Girls Club of East County. Honored at the Children’s Ball were Mary Alice and Ron Brady, who donated $3 million towards the new Boys and Girls Club in La Mesa, the Brady Family Club House and Brady Family Teen Center. The event also honored Conrad Prebys for his philanthropy to the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County.
On March 29, the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County held their 48th Annual Children’s Ball at the U.S. Grant hotel. The event was open to everyone who wanted to support the Boys and Girls Club of East County. Honored at the Children’s Ball were Mary Alice and Ron Brady, who donated $3 million towards the new Boys and Girls Club in La Mesa, the Brady Family Club House and Brady Family Teen Center. The event also honored Conrad Prebys for his philanthropy to the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County.
A formal affair had all the makings of a record-breaking fundraiser, a reception and silent auction outside the Presidential Ballroom. This event raised funds for the clubs with a standing room only crowd gathered to exalt the Boys and Girls Clubs and the children in East County who rely on them. East County pageant representatives manned auction tables. Miss Pre-Teen Lakeside Trinity Stewart, Miss Teen Lakeside Destiny Wisley, and Miss Lakeside Celeste Frandsen, who is a student at Cuyamaca College studying floral design, planning on opening her own business sold tickets for a trip to Hawaii.
“This benefits the kids in my own community,” said Frandsen. “A lot of the kids in my community need help in certain areas of their life, they need support. The East County Boys and Girls Clubs helps in those areas that they need and I think it is an amazing event.”
The people who not only recognize the need but also do something about it better the lives of kids in East County every day. From the mentor at the clubhouse to generous donors and sponsors, the Children’s Ball was a chance for everyone to see such efforts in action.
Austin Cooksey is a freshman at Santana High School and a Boys & Girls Club standout with a 4.6 GPA, with honors. Cooksey received applause and cheers from the crowd before he took to the podium, on his credentials alone. His speech captured everyone’s attention, as he described his dedication to school, what he has learned at the Boys & Girl Club, and of helping his sister through their parents divorce.
“Besides instilling in me traits of a good sportsman, the club also provided me with a place where I could get my homework done,” Cooksey said. “By giving me a quiet place where I could finish my work and staff who were eager to help, I was able to succeed in school. I have no doubt that the club has had a major impact on my academic success.”
Cooksey said he considers a family to be a group of people that provides him with safety, security, loyalty, honesty and graciousness.
“I consider the staff and other members of the Boys and Girls Club my second family and I don’t know where I would be without them,” he said.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of East County is that safe place where kids like Cooksey study to build and raise their GPA’s. His symbolic achievement was not lost on anyone listening to his speech, including community leaders.
“The Boys and Girls Clubs has always been a safety net. It’s not recreation, it’s homework, and they do an outstanding job encouraging kids to be responsible. So we’ve been supportive forever,” said La Mesa Mayor Art Madrid.
The spirit of generosity resounding throughout the evening acknowledged that investing in children is everyone’s interest, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of East County are grateful for those who make it their responsibility. Tanith Sloan, director of the East County Club House and Sal Olluqui, director of operations brought 19 clubhouse kids to the ball, 12 from El Cajon and six from Lakeside. They were all up past their bedtime but beamed as they stood in front of the stage during Cooksey’s speech, representing more than 3,000 children in East County who benefit from their clubhouses.
“For them, it’s a special event. They greet the guests coming in and get that personal connection. The Boys and Girls Club is a fun, safe place to go where they have mentors,” said Sloan, who was also a member of the East County Boys and Girls Club house growing up.
When Sloan went to Meridian Elementary, there were no buses to take kids to the clubhouse. Her working mother paid a taxi to take her to the Boys and Girls Club in El Cajon every day after school. Sloan went to El Capitan High School, then SDSU, and now offers other children the same help she found growing up. “It’s so full circle,” she said.
A Boys and Girls Club of East County membership is $45 for membership for a year, and the bussing from school to the club is $15 per week, said Sloan, a perfect example of what Brady said, “It’s better to build kids than mend adults.”
