JACKSONVILLE — Around 14 years ago, Glen Lane took a job with the Martin Street Youth Center as director of Our Club of Jacksonville, an after-school program and a division of the Jacksonville Parks and Recreation Department.
The club began as an after-school program for at-risk kids, but Lane said he took the “at-risk” out of the description to encompass all school-age kids. He said Our Club focuses on three things: academics, social skills and life skills. The students are picked up after school, and the club provides them with a nutritional snack and time to unwind before the activities begin.
Lane said he accesses the needs of the club and makes things happen, and he wants to become a reliable and trusted source in the kids’ lives.
Lane said he loves being a mentor to the kids who are members of Our Club, and his goal is to instill in them that giving back is a good thing.
The members of the club are also members of 4-H, and October is National 4-H Promotion Month. Lane thought he could combine the 4-H Promotional Month with giving back, and through the month of October, the club is collecting supplies to donate to The Salvation Army.
“The Jacksonville Our Club is the only Our Club site that has an organized and active 4-H Club: the Representatives 4-H Club. Four-H members are encouraged to create, conduct and participate in service projects throughout the year,” said Erica Harris, county extension agent for 4-H Youth Development through the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture. “Mr. Glen Lane, the 4-H volunteer leader at the Jacksonville Our Club, has been instrumental in energizing and engaging his 4-H Club members in service projects. This month they are serving as a donation drop-off site for Pulaski County 4-H’s Salvation Army Supply Drive. It is such a blessing to have amazing 4-H volunteer leaders like Mr. Glen, wonderful 4-H members and supporters who are always willing to rally behind a great cause.”
Lane said the kids have turned this supply drive into a friendly competition. But he said the only goal he has set for the kids is to collect as much as they can.
“I haven’t given them a goal because when they reach that goal, that’s all they’ll do. … I have a group of 22 kids who are aggressively trying to win,” he said with a laugh. “It’s an unwritten competition. Everything is a competition around here.”
He said he encourages the kids to give instead of get.
“We are trying to break away from the sense of entitlement and to realize it’s not all about ‘us.’ It’s about others,” Lane said, “those who may or may not have something to eat. … Don’t just be a taker, be a giver as well.”
Harris said the kids’ contributions are important because some of the programs through The Salvation Army have been reduced, but the needs are still there.
“As a testament of the need in our area, last year the Central Arkansas Salvation Army spent $91,000 feeding Little Rock’s homeless. Nationwide, nearly 60 percent of Salvation Army programs saw donations remain flat or decline,” Harris said.
Lane said the average 9-year-old is exposed to suicide, homicide, sex and many other situations, and by being involved in something constructive, it lessens the children’s exposure to those things.
“When we do the supply drive or serve people, I tell them, ‘Don’t ask for anything in return,’” he said. “The reward itself is the act.”
To not only help the kids at Our Club in their competition but to make a donation to The Salvation Army, there is a drop box set up in the lobby of Our Club at 201 Martin St. in Jacksonville.
“You don’t have to say anything; just drop something off,” Lane said. “But if you want to talk, I’ll talk your ear off. … I love bragging on my kids.”
Items needed include toothbrushes, toothpaste, combs, brushes, baby wipes, deodorant, bleach, detergent and bathroom tissue.
For more information on Our Club and the Martin Street Youth Center, visit cityofjacksonville.net or call Lane at (501) 982-0818.
Staff writer Jeanni Brosius can be reached at (501) 244-4307 or jbrosius@arkansasonline.com.