Meet the Challenge Mural

Our completed Meet the Challenge mural of the Los Angeles Harbor.

On Saturday, February 1, we hosted the Meet the Challenge Mural Project in the San Pedro Boys & Girls Club gym. The mural project was inspired by our Meet the Challenge matching grant opportunity by an anonymous donor who has pledged to match all new or upgraded donations, up to $250,000, which would allow the Club to significantly expand and improve programming for harbor area youth in academics, arts and athletics.

Board President Yvonne Bogdanovich, Board VP Tamara Powers, 
Board member Kate Cocke and Executive Director Mike Lansing 
painting with Club youth.

Our Fine Arts Director Sandra Avila designed a 30’ by 14’ traveling mural of iconic Los Angeles harbor sights including the Port of LA, the Korean Bell of Friendship, Banning House and the Vincent Thomas Bridge stretching across the mural. We opened our San Pedro Club to long-standing friends of the Club and new supporters in the community to join our youth in painting the outlined design. 

LAPD Harbor Division Captain Nancy Lauer with our youth.

Keystone and Torch Club youth from our three Clubs set to work right away when the project started with assistance from local LAFD Station 48 and LAPD Harbor Division volunteers. Community leaders stopped by throughout the day and gravitated to the areas of the mural that held a special significance for them. Port Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi and family helped color in a freighter docking in the Port, while Wilmington Chamber Executive Director Dan Hoffman painted the area of the mural depicting Avalon Boulevard.

Petros Papadakis of Fox Sports Radio helping out with our mural.

Friends of the Club, Petros Papadakis of Fox Sports Radio and Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Fonoimoana brought their athletic enthusiasm to the project. Eric attended with high school volleyball player volunteers from the Dig 4 Kids Foundation. In support of a local arts project, San Pedro Arts Association Vice President Steve Magee and Warner Grand Theater Manager Lee Sweet attended to assist and view the progress of the community’s young artists.

Port Commissioner Anthony Pirozzi painting in a freighter in our mural.

We received much support from the Palos Verdes community with painting assistance from National Charity League Palos Verdes Chapter mother-daughter team volunteers who donated snacks for the event. Representatives from Palos Verdes Young Professionals, which selected our organization as their Nonprofit of 2014 volunteered their time to work alongside Club youth in creating the inspirational depiction.

The traveling mural will soon be making its way through Los Angeles Harbor Boys & Girls Club sites and will make appearances at community events to share with a wider audience. Thanks to all of our volunteer painters for Meeting the Challenge!

Thanks, LAFD Station 48, for the support!

Eric Fonoimoana Shares His Olympic Gold Story

Yesterday, our Port of Los Angeles Boys & Girls Club was visited by local Olympic gold medalist, Eric Fonoimoana. Over 100 kids from the Club and from our Barton Hill Elementary School site gathered in the gym overlooking the Port to meet Eric and hear his story of triumph.

Like many of our Club members, Eric is a South Bay resident born and raised. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney he and his partner Dain Blanton won the gold medal in beach volleyball. Eric has played professionally for more than eighteen years and has won at least one tournament for seven straight years between 1998 and 2004.

Eric Fonoimoana helps our kids win in the tug-of-war competition

After a spirited tug-of-war competition organized by Eric, the kids settled down to watch a short movie showing the famous moment when he made the final block over the net sealing the gold medal win for Dain and himself. Our youth saw Eric’s medal ceremony as the star spangled banner played over Sydney’s Bondi Beach.

Eric revealed to our kids that he was only seven years old when he saw his sister win the silver medal in swimming at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and decided that he would do whatever it took to get to the Olympics. He is the youngest of six siblings who introduced him to volleyball as a child and challenged him to develop his athletic skills. From playing sports to doing simple chores, Eric was brought up to always finish what he started. He gave every challenge his best effort and never quit half-way through. Eric explained that it was his hard work and determination to never give up that led him to Olympic gold.

Our Club kids were thrilled to see Eric’s gold medal and were inspired by his story. As the kids passed in front of Eric to see his medal, one middle school girl informed him that she was working hard as a gymnast and wanted to go to the Olympics. Two girls from our Port of Los Angeles Club Teen Center who play on POLA High School’s volleyball team attended the event after practice to meet Eric.

Thanks so much to Eric Fonoimoana for visiting our Club and sharing his story and to our supporters at Wells Fargo for helping arrange the visit. More information about Eric and his non-profit foundation, Dig 4 Kids Education Foundation which provides academic and athletic opportunities to youth in low-income communities, can be found at www.dig4kids.org. 

New volleyballs for our Club kids donated by Dig 4 Kids