Mission Moment

After the Club Christmas party, elementary student Maddeline approached us to request help with a project. Although everyone wrote thank you letters to the Fidler family for providing them with a Christmas Party, Maddeline did not feel it was enough. She asked if we could record a video of her to share with them how much their support meant to her. We were able to capture a heartfelt and candid expression of pure gratitude! This magical moment came after cultivating character and practicing acts of giving and receiving.

Club members understand the link between generosity and gratitude in new ways this year. Thank you to many of you who make these moments possible for our Members!

Program Highlight

A ‘Club Buck’ is the currency we use in our Club microeconomy. Club Bucks are earned through various activities and can be spent in our Club Bucks store which sells many wonderful toys. Clubs Bucks are utilized as a reward to incentivize behavior and participation in programming at Club. We started the microeconomy about two years ago with members designing their own currency to use at Club. After choosing the winners of each denomination (e.g. 1, 5, 10) we created a chart for ways Club Bucks could be earned. This incentive has been a meaningful change for our new program format in 2020. As members have less choice rotating through programs instead of rooms, we have incentivized participating and engagement in new programs with Club Bucks. Members earn and save money practicing life skills. At the same time, Club Bucks encourage them to complete their homework, volunteer and show good citizenship.

One of our members, Damien, knew his friend, Layne, really wanted an item in this week’s Club Bucks store. Layne did not have enough Club Bucks to buy the $100 item, but Damien had $110 that he had earned and saved. Damien chose to buy the item Layne wanted and gave it to him leaving only $10 for him to buy anything for himself. It was amazing to see the joy that Damien was able to receive by having the opportunity to surprise his friend. Damien could not have experienced this intrinsic reward outside of the Club Bucks Store program.

Whatever It Takes

We are blessed at Club to be allowed to connect our families to resources throughout the community. This fall we were able to support our families through Club programming and academic support, but also with items through community supports. Our families were blessed with Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. We were also able to fit almost all of our current members for new coats and boots. After all of this, we were also able to support them with a new comforter and backpacks. One of our Club moms shared, “I was excited to have a place to send my daughter after school so I could work, but did not realize how much additional support our family would receive. We are very thankful for Club!”