Meet The Challenge

Since 1937, we have been meeting the challenge. At 15 sites in San Pedro and Wilmington, we help over 12,000 youth reach their full potential in academics, arts and athletics.

Now we need you to join us and Meet the Challenge!

A generous, anonymous donor has offered a one-time challenge matching grant of $250,000 that will enable us to significantly expand our programming and the number of youth we serve. For every new or upgraded donation, our champion of youth will match dollar for dollar up to $250,000.  That means if you make a new donation of $100 today, your impact will be doubled to $200 automatically.

Please help us Meet The Challenge and donate at www.bgclaharbor.org/give/donate, call our Development Department at (310) 833-1322 ext. 242 or 230, or mail in the form at the this link with your donation to:

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor

1200 S. Cabrillo Avenue

San Pedro, CA 90731

We greatly appreciate your support in helping us sustain and grow our programming. We could not continue to provide educational opportunities and a safe haven to Harbor area youth without your generosity.

Over 2,400 Thanksgiving Meals Served at Our Clubs

Every year, we host Thanksgiving Dinners at our Clubs including the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club, Wilmington Boys & Girls Club, Port of Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club and, this year for the first time, the new Harry Bridges Span School Club site in Wilmington. Open to all youth members of the Club and their families, the annual Thanksgiving Dinners offer families the opportunity to come together and celebrate as a community. 

Our Arts Academy band entertaining the community at our Wilmington Club dinner.

Attendees ate their dinner with the all of the trimmings in our Club gyms decked out with seasonal decorations. Live music was provided by our Arts Academy musicians and there were presentations by Club youth about what they are thankful for.

National Charity League mother-daughter volunteers at our San Pedro Club dinner.

The National Charity League Palos Verdes Chapter, Palos Verdes Rotary, San Pedro Rotary and Los Angeles City Fire Department Chief of Staff and Club Board member John Vidovich donated all of the turkeys and hams for the over 2,400 meals that were served at the four dinners from November 19 to November 22. Bonert’s Slice of Pie in Santa Ana donated all of the pumpkin pies served at the dinners.

National Charity League Ticktocker taking family portraits.

Volunteers from both Rotary groups attended the dinner at our newest site at Harry Bridges Span School to assist in serving. National Charity League mother-daughter team volunteers assisted at the San Pedro Club dinner and the Wilmington Club dinner, serving meals and taking family portraits for attendees to have a keepsake of the evening. Student volunteers from Marymount California University who are currently assisting with our programming, volunteered as servers at the Port of Los Angeles Club dinner. The Port of Los Angeles employee band even donated their time to entertain our families at our Port of Los Angeles Club dinner.

For some of the families we serve, this is the only hot meal they will be able to have together this season. Thanks to generous organizations like National Charity League, Rotary and individuals like John Vidovich we were able to ensure that all of our youth were given the opportunity to have a great Thanksgiving.

A Port of Los Angeles Club family enjoying their Thanksgiving.

Our San Pedro Club community celebrating Thanksgiving.

First Annual Fall Arts Academy Showcase on December 4

On December 4 at 4:30 p.m., we will celebrate the culmination of our Arts Academy’s first year of instruction with a FREE showcase at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro. In January 2013, we improved and expanded our Comprehensive Arts Programming to create the Arts Academy offering Saturday instruction to elementary, middle and high school students at the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club and the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club.

The arts education fills a need left by the recent exclusion of arts programming in local schools and gives more skilled youth an opportunity to further develop their talents in music, dance, fine arts, digital arts and film production.

Entertainment for the evening will commence with a fine arts gallery and opening reception at 4:30 p.m. Following displays will include demonstrations of game design, 3D modeling, animation and film production as well as live music and dance performances covering several popular genres and styles. 

For more information about our showcase or to reserve a seat please visit www.bgclaharbor.org/news/event-registration.

Check out the video below about our Arts Academy programming created by our students in the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club digital studio supported by the Taco Bell Foundation and the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation.

College Bound Workshops for Our High School Seniors

College Bound Director Yesenia Aguilar and her coordinators have been very busy these last couple of months making sure our seniors have all the tools they need to fill out their college applications. Every Monday through Saturday, our College Bound Centers at our San Pedro Club, Wilmington Club and Port of Los Angeles Club have been packed with high school students, especially seniors, preparing their applications with the support of our College Bound coordinators and case managers.

A College Bound tutor helps two high school seniors with their personal statements.

Deadlines for college and scholarship applications are closing in and we have been making sure that our students have the knowledge they need to turn in excellent applications. Our College Bound coordinators and case managers provide 1-on-1 mentoring to all of our College Bound students including our high school seniors which is needed now more than ever.

One way we have been assisting our high school seniors is with two workshops per week that walk our students through the entire college application process. The workshops have been attended by up to 80 seniors at each Club and topics range from "Selecting a College" to "Personal Statement Writing" to "Filling Out the UC Application."

High school seniors at our San Pedro Club take notes at a College Bound workshop on the UC application process. 

As a start to the application season, we hung up our "Wall of Fame" at each Club. The Wall displays pictures of our seniors. Once their acceptance letters start coming in, we will add the name of the colleges they were accepted to under their pictures. It has always been a very proud moment for our seniors to list the colleges that have accepted them under their pictures. We look forward to starting the process again this year!

Our previous College Bound Wall of Fame.

BODIES...The Exhibition Comes to the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club

We participated in the Great American Smokeout sponsored by the American Cancer Society on November 21 to raise awareness of the negative affects of smoking. To mark the occasion, BODIES...The Exhibition in Buena Park visited our San Pedro Boys & Girls Club middle school center for a presentation on how detrimental smoking can be to the human body. 

As a rare aspect of this type of presentation, a docent from BODIES was given permission to bring real human specimens from the exhibition to show the students first hand how smoking can damage organs and reduce life expectancy. The specimens had been prepared with polymer preservation, a process in which human tissue is permanently preserved using liquid silicone rubber. This allowed our students to get up close to the specimens and even touch them for a hands on educational experience about their health.

BODIES docent holding a transparent body slice of real human lungs to show the damage caused by smoking.

The BODIES docent presented specimens that have been damaged by smoking, including a real human brain of someone who smoked, transparent body slices showing damage to the lungs and kidneys and a set of smoker's lungs. This inspired our students to share stories of family members or other people they knew who had become sick as a result of smoking.

Our kids were given the opportunity to touch specimens that are normally only handled by doctors and medical students. Thanks to BODIES...The Exhibition our students are more aware of why they shouldn't smoke!

More information about BODIES...The Exhibition in Buena Park can be found at www.bodiestheexhibition.com/buenapark.

The BODIES specimens were prepared using polymer preservation allowing our students to learn through touch.

First Season of Flag Football Ends with Championships

This fall, our San Pedro Club and Wilmington Club athletics departments started flag football leagues for boys and girls ages 11-13 to compete against local middle school teams. The season ended on the last weekend of October with championship games at Daniel's Field in San Pedro. All of our teams took home trophies!

Our Wilmington Boys & Girls Club Colts with their 3rd place trophy.

Our Wilmington Boys & Girls Club team, the Colts, won against Holy Trinity School to take home the third place trophy. The Colts led by Coach Johnny Walter saw vast improvement throughout the season and were thrilled to end with a big win.

The San Pedro Boys & Girls Club flag football program, coached by Head Coach Phillip Redd, was so popular this season that two teams were organized, the Seahawks and the Bears. Both teams competed in the final game of the season with the first place trophy going to the Bears and the second place trophy going to the Seahawks. The awards ceremony at the championship included announcements of each team's MVP.

The flag football league has been a great addition to our extensive athletics programming which includes leagues for soccer and basketball as well as introductory lessons in a variety of sports to keep our youth healthy and active. 

San Pedro Boys & Girls Club Bears and Seahawks with our MVP holding the first place trophy.