PINE HILLS, Fla. – Lisa Bell has a roughly five-pound book of memories from her time at the Boys & Girls Club.
Inside it has mementos such as newspaper clippings of her winning “Idaho State Youth of The Year” in 1999 to photos of mountains in the Pacific Northwest.
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“If it weren’t for the Boys & Girls Club, I would not be living the life that I’m living,” Bell said.
As News 6 gets ready for its live newscast at the Walt Disney World Boys & Girls Club in Pine Hills, Bell reflects on this full circle moment.
Q: What Boys & Girls Club did you go to growing up and why did you join?
So, it was called the Valley Boys & Girls Club in Lewiston, Idaho, which is in Lewis Clark Valley. I first joined the Boys & Girls Club when I was about six years old. I joined because I was looking for something fun to do, and in my community, that was basically the only organization that had organized sport.
Q: Can you share a bit about your experiences at the Boys & Girls Club?
I joined to play soccer and to play basketball and continued to be involved all throughout elementary school, primarily playing sports. Then when I was in middle school, which back then, was called junior high school, the executive director for the Boys & Girls Club came to my school at a teach-in and talked about an explorer’s post that he led.
That was a group of kids who would go backpacking all throughout the Pacific Northwest. So basically, we would fill up a backpack with a tent, a sleeping bag, clothes and food to last us however long we were going to be out in the outdoors, potentially as long as two weeks, as well as stuff that we might need to start a fire, a little pad for your sleeping bag, any essentials that you might need while you’re out backpacking.
So, he came to our junior high school and was talking about that. There was a group of us who had all played sports via the Boys & Girls Club growing up, and we decided that we wanted to be a part of that group. So, we joined the explorer’s post at the Boys & Girls Club. Then from there, there were other volunteer opportunities that presented themselves, like this, ‘Teens with a Vision’ group. There’s some pictures of us in there where we were basically mentoring other kids in the club about making positive choices. And from there, the Boys and Girls Club has a program called the Youth of the Year program, and it has been around for at least 25 years - probably longer than that.
Each club, and there are more than 3,500 clubs around the world, will select its own Youth of the Year representative, and it’s someone who writes a series of essays and goes through a series of interviews with a panel of judges talking about their community service, their club service, their schoolwork – all of that sort of stuff.
And then the panel of judges selects one child to become their Youth of the Year for the club at that point. Then you go to a state competition where each club sends their own Youth of the Year, and you compete at a state level. From there, you go to a regional level, and then there is ultimately one National Youth of the Year for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. I was fortunate enough to become the Youth of the Year for my club and then the state of Idaho.
Back then, Oprah Winfrey was giving every single state winner a $25,000 scholarship, and she did that for three consecutive years.
From there, I went on to become the Western Region Youth of the Year, which led to the opportunity to go to Washington, D.C. where I met Bill Clinton in the Oval Office, Denzel Washington, General Colin Powell and many other longtime Boys & Girls Club of America supporters.
After that experience, I came back to my hometown. I had just enrolled as a freshman at the University of Idaho. I was a finance major, and I was speaking at an annual fundraising gala at the Valley Boys & Girls Club about my experiences with the club and everything that I had done in Washington D.C., the people that we had met, when afterward, the news director for the CBS affiliate approached me and asked if I’d be interested in becoming their weathercaster.
And I said, the first thing that popped into my mind, which I don’t recommend doing, and that was, ‘I don’t know anything about the weather,’ and she said, ‘That’s OK.’
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Q: How does it feel to be a part of the club today, serving on its board?
You know, it’s an organization that has the support of not only our local mayors but sheriffs, police chiefs, some extremely prominent people, not just in Central Florida, but all around the world. Professional athletes, people in business, politicians have gone through the Boys & Girls Club – and so to be asked to be on the board of directors was a big honor. When you think about it, at this particular Boys & Girls Club that we’re going to — every single day, 200 kids go there after school approximately.
Well, that’s dozens of families, dozens of parents, who have the security of knowing that their kids are in a safe place, that they’re being fed, they’re being mentored, they’re being tutored, they’re being entertained, they’re you know, getting exercise.
So, then the ripple effect that that has on the entire area, when you have families who are able to go to work and not worry about what their kids are doing after school, has a big impact on the community.
Q: If you could give your young self a piece of advice, what would it be?
I would say, don’t be afraid to try new things and new experiences. Even in high school and college, I was just working nonstop to get to the next stop.
I graduated college in three and a half years. I didn’t allow myself, I think, to fully enjoy the moment, because I was so focused on getting to the next level.
Now that I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for 25 years, I would tell my younger self to take a breath, stop and smell the roses, try to enjoy it a bit more.
Q: How does funding work for the Boys & Girls Club?
It’s all based on donations, and so thankfully, it’s an organization that has received a lot of support over the years from local governments because they understand the impact that it has on reducing crime, the impact that it has on boosting test scores. So, it gets some support in the form of grants, there are some people who have made large contributions to the organization over the years and have helped finance what they do day in and day out.
Q: What would you tell parents who are thinking of sending their kids to their local Boys & Girls Club?
It’s a great place — there’s something for everyone at the Boys & Girls Club, whether your child likes sports or they like art, or they like robotics. They have professional reading tutors, math tutors and dance instructors. It’s a safe place for your kids to go, so give it a try.
There are nearly 40 Boys & Girls Club locations across Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Brevard and Lake counties. To find more information on how to join a club or donate, click HERE.
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