Boys & Girls Club wraps up successful summer program

By Bill Sterling

The Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Shore is wrapping up a very successful summer program that saw approximately 75 youth ages 5-16 enjoy a host of activities that involved learning, arts and crafts and sports. Fun was also a common denominator in all those pursuits. The club is housed at Mary N. Smith Cultural Enrichment Center in Accomac with youth arriving as early as 7:30 a.m. and leaving at 5:30 p.m.

Fields trips this summer included journeys to Norfolk for a Tides baseball game, to Chincoteague for some putt-putt golf and the water park, trips to Kings Dominion and Busch Gardens, movies at a cafe cinema and more.

Staff member Chloe Harper directs the club’s dance group, bringing years of experience to the effort.

Harper, 29, started dancing when she was five, growing up in Broward County, Fla. “My mother was a majorette and we always had music playing in the house, so I just developed a love and passion for dancing.”

Although she majored in elementary education at Hampton University and is now beginning her sixth year as a third grade teacher at Pungoteague Elementary School, Harper studied hip hop, ballet, jazz and tap dancing in college. She was also part of a college dance team.

During the school year she teaches hip hop at the ESO Arts Center in Belle Haven. Boys & Girls Club unit director Kathy Custis asked Harper if she could teach a similar program at the club. Harper joined the staff and has enjoyed working with the youth at the club.

“I want to instill the passion of dance to my students, but I also want them to pursue whatever their interests are and show them there’s so much more than looking at your phone or TikTok.”

Harper says she enjoys all the arts and also loves history of any culture. Her faith is also very important to her, and she dances at the New Life Deliverance Ministries in Tasley, performing mime dances.

For now, she teaches primarily hip hop at the club, but she plans on introducing ballet to the students in the coming year.

Harper led her Boys & Girls Club dance group – named Aya Elevate Dance Team – at the end of the school year program in June and showcases the group at most special functions of the club.

At that event, Custis honored Bill Payne, president of the board for the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Shore for more than a decade. Payne led the club through changes in venue, helped grow the club’s biggest fundraiser, the Swine & Wine dinner and dance, helped adapt the club’s programs during the pandemic, and brought new, younger members on the board before stepping down early this year.

Custis said, “Bill Payne was always there to support the club and has made a difference in the lives of the youth we serve. We will miss him, but he deserves to take a step back after working for the club so tirelessly all these years.”

Speaking at the “A Night of Honors” event were Devon Mack, State Farm Insurance Agent, and Willie Randall, Edward Jones Financial Advisor. Both men talked about the importance of setting goals, working hard in the classroom and showing respect to both peers and elders.

Custis closed the night by honoring the staff and presenting awards to the top achievers in the club.

For more information on the upcoming school year program, which begins on Sept. 3 and will be open Monday through Friday after school from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. with dinner served before holding programs which focuses on three priority outcomes – academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyle, call 757-302-0323, email easternshorefrontdesk@bgcseva.org or go to www.bgcseva.org.

To make a financial contribution to the club, send a check payable to the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Shore to P.O. Box 101, Melfa, VA 23410.

Custis said she also has a group of benefactors who she calls “Our Angels” who deliver Christmas presents each year, and last week they brought 75 backpacks filled with school materials.

This year’s Swine and Wine event will be held Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Mary N. Smith Cultural Enrichment Center. More details will be announced soon.