This year marks a milestone for the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Mississippi: For 25 years, it has been providing a safe haven for children.
Kids get the most out of the club’s services after school and during summer break, when they might otherwise be home alone or — even worse — subject to bad influences.
The club will celebrate its milestone with a banquet at 6 p.m. July 2 at the Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center auditorium. A reception will follow at 8:30 p.m. at The Flying Fish Restaurant in Fernwood. The cost to attend both the banquet and reception is $50 per person. Cost to attend just the reception is $20. Banquet-only tickets won’t be sold.
An alumni basketball game will be held 6:30 p.m. July 3 at the McComb High School gym. Tickets are $2 for students and $5 for adults. Registration to play in the games is $20 with a T-shirt provided.
Randy Tate, who has been executive director of the club since it opened in 1990, sees it as his life’s calling.
“I worked in the police force after college but I didn’t like that because you can’t change adults,” he said.
Tate said he wanted and continues to want to be a positive influence in childrens’ lives, especially those who come from difficult backgrounds.
One of those children, Keith Sibley, attended the club shortly after it opened in 1991 when he was 8.
As a child from a single-parent home in a low-income neighborhood, Sibley thrived on the positive influences offered by the Club.
“Once the club opened, I started attending after school. It was a safe haven for me to go,” he said, adding that the club offered a positive alternative to some of the offerings of his neighborhood, the White Acres housing projects.
“Anybody who has a lot of options and opportunities doesn’t have room for trouble,” Sibley said.
As an employee of the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville, Ark., Sibley said he hopes to influence a child the same way Randy Tate influenced him.
The late Jewel Rushing founded the McComb facility with help from Joyce McGhee, and for 25 years, the goal has remained the same — to inspire and enable young people to reach their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
Club board president Vickie Webb said the organization wants to make a difference in young people’s lives.
“Kids know when you care and it makes a big difference,” she said, adding that volunteers and employees of the club help to further encourage positive choices.
Tate said that when the club first opened he was the only employee to watch over 125 children, forcing him to rely on volunteers from the community and some of the older club members for help.
Cornelius Varnado joined when he was 14, and by age 16, he was helping Tate with the younger group of children.
“It gave me responsibilities like watching certain kids or helping out where Mr. Tate needed me. Sometimes I would sweep at closing,” he said.
Varnado, now a research scientist for Rice University in Houston, also grew up in the White Acres neighborhood.
“Before the club opened, I hung around the neighborhood,” he said, noting that there were no after-school activities to be a part of while his mother was at work.
“It gave me an outlet so that I wouldn’t get into bad trouble,” Varnado said. “It was a place that had positive role models and ... good influences, versus what you saw around the neighborhood.”
Varnado said he’s impressed with the changes the Boys & Girls Club has undergone since he was a member, including a massive renovation project a few years ago.
“It is amazing where they’ve gone since that time. Now they can hire employees, so that’s definitely a plus,” he said.
In 1995 Varnado was selected as “Youth of the Year” by the club in Jackson.
A similar story is that of Brittney Brumfield Johns, who also joined the club the year it opened.
Johns is a social worker in Jackson and part of her chosen line of work is because of what she learned in the club.
“With the children I work with, it’s an at-risk population. I always try to get adoptive parents and foster parents to get children involved in organization like the Boys & Girls Club,” she said. “It’s always rewarding for me to hear they attend.”
Tate said the theme of the anniversary is “Magnificent Milestones.”
“We want to show the community where we started to where we are now,” Tate said, noting the McComb facility has undergone renovations with additions of classrooms, a game room and a multipurpose room.
Tate said about 10 children are expected to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
“During this celebration, we will get to see where some of the children started and where they are today,” he said.
Some of the former members are now doctors, engineers and business owners.
“To me, that’s a success story. Whether you’re a doctor or an hourly worker, the main this is being productive and doing what is right,” Tate said.
Tate encourages everyone to attend the anniversary banquet to continue the work of the Boys & Girls Club.
“If you don’t attend the banquet, you’ll miss the treat of your life,” he said.
