TRI-LAKES AREA — Laryssa Calley was evidently looking for more things to do.
Perhaps having two teenage children, one entering college, wasn’t challenging enough. Maybe being one of the most active boosters of the Bryant High School Hornets varsity football team, which is coached by her husband, left her with time on her hands. Even with all that and her job as an insurance agent in Bryant, Calley has stepped up her commitment to the community and become even more involved in helping children lead a better life.
In March, Calley was elected president-elect of the Bryant Boys and Girls Club after only one year as a member of the organization’s board of directors.
“She was picked because of her leaderships skills and her passion for helping children,” said Suzanne Passmore, executive director of the club. “It was obvious from the first meetings she attended.”
When Passmore’s son was on the team, she worked with Calley as a member of the parents club for Bryant varsity football players.
While Calley will not succeed Christina Long as president of the Boys and Girls Club until next spring, Calley is active in chairing the organization’s major fundraising campaign committee.
She said visiting the club regularly helps her with her fundraising work.
“It is good to come and see the kids and see their faces,” Calley said. “It helps when you ask someone to give when you are focused on the kids and realize why you are doing this.”
Calley said the contributions being raised will help fund training and materials for members of the club’s staff so they know how to react and intervene with the children in stressful situations.
“The staff are teaching children self-restraint and how to deal with anger issues and teaching the kids how to channel that anger into something positive,” she said.
Calley has actively worked with the members of the club’s Torch Club, a leadership development program for students in fifth grade and higher. She said she and her husband lead a program for girls ages 12-14.
“It was to teach self-confidence and self-esteem so that young ladies could deal with peer pressures and make good decisions,” she said.
Calley said that after she takes over as president in 2011, she will strive to continue the work of Long.
“The club is already going in a positive direction,” Calley said of Long’s leadership. “We try to keep growing, and we don’t turn kids away.”
Passmore said Calley seems tireless.
“She has a sincere desire tomake a difference in these kids’ lives,” Passmore said.
Calley has also been elected vice president of the Bryant Civitan Club. She is involved with the civic club’s work in aiding children and adults with mental and physical disabilities. She has been a member of the club for two years.
Calley was also recently selected to teach a program for youth on Wednesday night at the Otter Creek Assembly of God Church, where her family attends.
And as football season approaches, Calley will be back supporting the Hornets in the Booster Club.
“I’m the chair for the football mommies,” she said. “We actually do teach the game of football to mothers of the players.”
“These mothers are the backbone of the team,” she added.
In her spare time, Calley trains as an athlete. In May, she participated in a sprint triathlon in Texarkana. The event included a 650-yard swim, a 16-mile bicycle ride and a 5K run.
“I finished, which was my first goal, but wanted to finish inunder an hour and 45 minutes, but I did it in 1:53,” she said.
- wbryan@ arkansasonline.com
Tri-Lakes, Pages 56 on 07/29/2010