Haynes notes that field trips, guest speakers, and a chance to get acclimated to being on a college campus are also part of the Club experience. She says this helps broaden kids’ horizons and “takes away some of the fear of going off to college.” Haynes says she’s had “the good fortune to see many of these kids grow up” and find success as attorneys, doctors, and more.

(PHOTO: Club kids enjoy an art activity.)

One of those kids, Sara Donahue, has worked at multiple Clubs and is now the Youth Services Center Coordinator at Corbin High School. She’s passionate about the mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of America and hopes to see more Clubs open in the region and serve even more children.

“One thing that is consistent in all my roles at the Club, is that I got to see major life-change happen there,” Donahue says.

Union President Dr. Marcia Hawkins emphasizes that the UCBGC is open to all kids in grades K-12, regardless of socioeconomic status. “When kids are at the Club, they are all ‘Club Kids,’” she says.

It was Hawkins who first advocated for opening the Club and partnered with Haynes to make it happen. She had relied on the Boys & Girls Club in Arlington, Texas when she was a single mom there, and she wanted families in Barbourville to have access to the same excellent services and resources she’d had in a bigger city. 

When the UCBGC opened in 2017, rural Club locations were unusual and there were only four college-based Clubs in the country. Now, the UCBGC has become a model of success: it has served hundreds of local families as well as countless Union students.

Haynes explains that in addition to its many youth services, the UCBGC also offers many kinds of real-world experiences that Union students can learn from as interns and volunteers. “Really just about any discipline, we can find something for you at the Boys & Girls Club that will help develop your job skills and help you become successful later on,” she says. 

(PHOTO: Union College nursing students visit the Club to teach the kids about healthy habits.)

Seeing the success of their partnership, Haynes and Hawkins have been, as Haynes says, “shouting from the rooftops” about the benefits of college-based Boys & Girls Clubs. 

“I’m very excited about the possibility that there will be other campus clubs and that we will gain synergies in programming, personnel, and interest from granting agencies and foundations that see the benefit of this kind of partnership,” says Hawkins.