Over 500 people “hit the beach” at On the Road benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands (BGCM) on Saturday, June 11, 2011 at Stinson Park at Aksarben Village. The event was sponsored by Battle Sports Science.

Honorary chairs, Howard Kooper and Tom Fellman along with chairs, Kirk and Sue Swartzbaugh commented, “the energy surrounding the event really shows the support the community has for the youth served by the Boys & Girls Clubs.”

BGCM President and event emcee, Ivan Gilreath, dedicated the event to long-time Club supporter Phil Schrager. Terri, Rick and Harley Schrager joined Ivan on stage to accept a memorial plaque and to say a few words about Phil’s legacy and the impact he had on underprivileged youth in Omaha.

Chancellor Smith, the 2010 Nebraska Boys & Girls Clubs Youth of the Year and a beneficiary of a Phillip and Terri Schrager Foundation Scholarship, spoke at the event. “Chancellor showed us all why the Clubs are so important. He shared his story and got the crowd excited about the work the Clubs do every day,” said Kirk Swartzbaugh.

The event itself brought in $240,000 to support the Club’s five core program areas:  character and leadership development, education and career development, health and life skills, the arts, and sports, fitness and recreation.

A very special thanks to all of the sponsors, supporters, volunteers and staff that made On the Road possible.

For event photos go to http://www.bgcomaha.org/gallery/?album=1&gallery=45

As the Missouri River continues to rise, the threat of flooding in the Carter Lake area has forced Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands into damage prevention mode. As reported earlier in the week, Carter Lake Unit operations and Camp Nakomis have been moved to the South Omaha Unit for the remainder of the summer months.

Club staff and volunteers have now shifted their focus to mitigating the potential damage, should rising water tables or flood waters reach the Club. On Tuesday, nearly 20 volunteers pitched in throughout the afternoon to pack up the Club into four full-size semi trailers that will be moved to higher ground. Their efforts have not come a moment too soon as the Army Corps of Engineers is expected to release additional water in the coming days, putting further stress on the levees protecting the area.

click here for more photos Carter Lake flood prep

Please stay tuned to our website www.bgcomaha.org, or our Facebook page for updated flooding information as we receive it.

Boys & Girls Clubs of America held its annual conference last week in New Orleans, LA. The conference was officially launched by BGCA Chairman Emil Brolick (COO of Yum! Brands, Inc.) as he greeted attendees. Sharing her vision for the Boys & Girls Club Movement, BGCA President and CEO Roxanne Spillett discussed the work of the National Commission on Impact and its recommendations to achieve deeper, Movement-wide impact for the youth we serve.

“The National Commission counseled us that at the heart of this vision is our Club Experience, and that the greatest impact lies not in curriculums and structured programs alone, but in the fabric of the everyday Club Experience,” said Spillett during the opening session.

Representatives from Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands were there to hear the message, and also to attend powerful workshops and and educational sessions. Along with great insights and rekindled passions, they brought back with them two national awards presented to BGCM at the conference.

The first was the Merit Award for Program Excellence for Overall Program for Clubs with budgets less than $500,000, presented to the Carter Lake Unit. This means the Carter Lake Unit is one of the top two Clubs within the entire BGC Movement. Over 4,000 units from across the country competed for this honor.

The second award received was a Bronze Marketing & Communications (MAC) Award for Comprehensive Marketing Strategy. BGCM received this award for excellence in overall marketing, communications and development strategy, including its use of direct mail and email communications; special event fundraising and promotion; and social media strategy. This is BGCM’s fifth MAC Award and the first in the Comprehensive Marketing Strategy classification.

May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month, and is the perfect time to celebrate how Let’s Move! and the Million PALA (Presidential Active Lifestyle Award) Challenge are helping Americans get healthy and fit. Through the Million PALA Challenge, an extension of the President’s Challenge, The President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition set a goal for 1 million Americans to earn a PALA by September 2011.

Everyday kids and adults are signing up at www.millionpalachallenge.org to take on the President’s Challenge to get physically active. I invite you to participate and to celebrate with me a record-breaking fitness challenge in which I was lucky enough to participate!

I recently joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), a President’s Challenge Advocate, and its Clubs across the country to promote kids being active and healthy in a big way – by attempting to break a Guinness World Record. The record was for the most people doing Jumping Jacks (or Star Jumps) simultaneously. Jumping jacks are called starjumps in some countries because the arms, legs and head form a five-pointed star.

The record is defined as, “the most people star jumping simultaneously at multiple venues for two consecutive minutes,” according to Guinness World Records. To break the current record, more than 278 kids needed to complete the attempt. While the official results will come from Guinness in a few weeks, I think it’s safe to assume that with almost 20,000 kids taking part, the record has already been broken!

BGCA’s Triple Play program organized this record-smashing event in order to bring attention to the importance of kids living healthy, active lifestyles and how Boys & Girls Clubs help promote this every day. This program, supported by founding sponsor, Coca-Cola, and the WellPoint Foundation, encourages kids to eat healthier, become more physically active and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships.

With nearly one-third of kids in the U.S. qualifying as obese or overweight, having a goal to be physically active every day is very important for kids, and it can be achieved through activities as simple as doing jumping jacks. Being active puts kids on a pathway to a great future.

We at the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition are so proud of the nationwide turnout for the record-breaking attempt. No one needs fancy equipment, specific clothing or a gym membership to get out and exercise. Some good old-fashioned jumping jacks can do it!

Triple Play: A Game Plan for the Mind, Body and Soul was launched in 2005 by BGCA in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services. A two-year study of more than 2,000 children ages 9-14 showed that Triple Play succeeded in getting them to exercise more, eat healthier foods and feel better about themselves. The study found that Triple Play kids increased to 90 percent of the federally recommended amount of daily exercise, which is 60 minutes a day for children, while their peers outside the program decreased to 78 percent. To date, Triple Play has helped more than one million kids learn the importance of physical activity and proper nutrition. Learn more about the program at www.bgca.org/tripleplay.

This post originally appeared on the Let’s Move blog on May 4, 2011

Guinness World Records defines the Star Jumps (Jumping Jacks) record as, “This record is for the most people Star Jumping (Jumping Jacks) simultaneously at multiple venues for two consecutive minutes.” Jumping Jacks are called Star Jumps in some countries because the arms, legs and head form a five-pointed star.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands will join Clubs from around the country during National Boys & Girls Club Week in an attempt to break this world record. At the event, each participant will begin the Star Jumps at the exact same time as everyone else in the country and jump for two minutes nonstop.

This attempt to break the world record will bring attention to the importance of young people living healthy, active lifestyles and how Boys & Girls Clubs help fill this need every day. Clubs do this through programs like Triple Play, BGCA’s proven health and wellness program that encourages kids to eat healthier, become more physically active and increase their ability to engage in healthy relationships.