Parent Perspective- Matt McArthur

Parent Perspective

For this article series, I have talked to a lot of people about their experience with the Black Canyon Boys & Girls Club (BCBGC), either as a former Club kid, current staffer, etc. However, of those I have interviewed about the Club experience, for practically all of them their experience with a Club in any capacity has been with the BCBGC. When interviewing today’s parent for the Club parent perspective, it was cool to get some insight into another Club way across the country. 

Matt McArthur’s first experience with a Club was his own when he attended the Boys & Girls Club of Marion County Inc in Ocala, FL. He attended the Club as a kid for about three years after which he came back to volunteer as a high school student. His volunteer efforts were for a special sports league for kids with developmental and physical disabilities. In fact, he mentioned the Club in Ocala managed/programmed a vast amount of the pre-teen sporting activities like baseball and lacrosse for the county. Even in my tenure in this position, I have had limited interaction learning about different Clubs, (primarily focused just within Colorado and a few others around the country here and there) so this additional information on a Club I never heard of was very interesting. 

Matt’s eldest son, Jordan Reef, currently attends the Olathe Unit and this was Jordan’s first summer as a Club kid anywhere. Prior to working in Montrose at the Delta-Montrose Electric Association as a Customer Service Representative, Matt worked in adventure tourism for many years, just recently moving from the Dominican Republic. Matt noted that Jordan loves attending Club and is having a blast. As Jordan is a very social kid, Matt knew he needed to get him involved with an organization that would allow him to flourish and make friends, especially since they are new to the area. Having had a great experience in his youth as a Club kid, Matt had a feeling the BCBGC would be a great fit for Jordan. His suspicions were confirmed after chatting with Olathe Site Director, Tim, and touring the Club, seeing how much fun the other kids were having. When asked what part of Club Jordan likes the most, Matt noted Jordan has enjoyed every part of it. From having a water wars fight with the Olathe Volunteer Fire Department and Police Department to doing sign language bingo, he says there is really no part that Jordan does not enjoy. He also enjoyed when Elevate Internet’s mascot Gigfoot made a special appearance at Club one day when I was doing an interview on the Hour of Code (and how Elevate, with its high speed internet, has helped to facilitate that) in Olathe. Matt likes that Club has a wide array of activities for the kids to do ranging from sports to educational and noted that the Olathe Unit does a good job keeping the programming varied.

Thank you, Matt, for letting me pick your brain on not only Jordan’s experience at the BCBGC but also getting more insight on your experience as a Club kid. 

Bud Taylor is the Executive Director of the Black Canyon Boys & Girls Club (BCBGC) and has been for the past three years. Prior to that he was a Club kid, Junior Staff member, and Board Director of the BCBGC. For more information on the Club, please visit www.bcbgc.org.