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!

Celebrating Black History Month

Our LA Harbor Clubs host a variety of cultural education events to broaden our Club members' knowledge of the history and diversity of their communities. According the Library of Congress, "National African American History Month (also known as Black History Month) in February celebrates the contributions that African Americans have made to American history in their struggles for freedom and equality and deepens our understanding of our Nation's history." We celebrated Black History Month all February with events for teens and younger youth.

Fine Arts students visit an African American art exhibit.

Our San Pedro Club High School Center hosted a series of movie screenings about prominent stories in the African American community. The movies included 42: The Jackie Robinson Story and The Butler. High School Center Director Cara Askew also organized a "Taste of Soul" potluck where our teens shared dishes they prepared, including peach cobbler, macaroni and cheese and collared greens. Arts Academy Instructor Darren Iacono and fine arts students visited the California African American Museum to learn about different African American styles of painting and sculpture.

Fine Arts Director Sandra Avila and Elementary School Center Coordinator Joshua Johnson organized a presentation for our Wilmington Club youth about African American history and music. Students learned how the first African Americans lived as slaves before fighting for their freedom and about the prominent contributions they made to all aspects of society. Our youth also learned about the history of corn bread and each received a piece.

Our educators at all three Clubs incorporated Black History Month into their lesson plans to help our youth better understand that African American history is important to all American history.

Our Wilmington Club students learned about African American history, music and food.