It got off to a rocky start, but 25 years later, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County is a thriving and resilient organization that offers young people guidance and parents assistance in shepherding their children in the right direction.
Nationally, the Boys & Girls Clubs of America had been around for more than 100 years before a Harford County organization was formed.
In 1860, according to the organization's website, three women from Hartford, Ct. - Mary Goodwin, Alice Goodwin and Elizabeth Hammersley - believed "boys who roamed the streets should have a positive alternative." The women organized what would become known as the Boys Club to provide that positive alternative.
A century and a quarter later and a few hundred miles to the south, there were those in Aberdeen who lamented the state of youth activities in the community. Among them was Vi Ripken, matriarch of the community's first family of baseball. She turned her formidable energy toward dealing with problems facing some of the community's young people and figured out the Boys & Girls Club organization could provide a solution.
It took a few years, but the organization eventually took root, first as the Aberdeen chapter and later growing to become the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County. Ripken deserves much of the credit for ensuring the club made it through the early days as the adult leadership struggled to find its way and, even now, she remains a strong champion for the organization.
In a quarter of a century, the organization has grown from barely being able to fill a room at Grove Presbyterian Church to one that has five branches and boasts facilities serving more than 5,000 young people each year.
If Ripken was the muse and moral force behind founding the local organization, Don Mathis was the organizational dervish that helped propel the club's growth. He served as director from 1997 to 2007 and was able to inspire an awful lot of community commitment in the form of financial support and volunteer assistance.
Characteristically, when asked about the organization on its anniversary, Mathis credited the communities where the club expanded, in part under his watch, saying: "It was really the communities in Aberdeen and Edgewood and Bel Air and Havre de Grace and said, 'Yeah, we want this,'"
His observation, of course, is correct, but his encouragement also helped to inspire people in the communities to support the clubs.
A quarter of a century later, Aberdeen still has its problems. Children are still straying away from the straight and narrow. Societies ills have not been cured.
Thanks to the local incarnation of the Boys & Girls Clubs – and the efforts of dozens, if not hundreds, of people just as dedicated as Ripken and Mathis – it's safe to say a dent has been made in the problem, and children throughout the community have a safe place that provides a positive influence.
It's a good, strong organization whose future is made bright because it helps make brighter the futures of the children who use its programs.