"The Boys and Girls Clubs engage Children through daily, participatory support. They have a beneficial influence over time, and strive to see all of their kids have a better life. I’m so proud Sun Potion can support the Clubs because we share similar values in our approach to the herbs and the business as they do to helping kids."
- Scott Linde
Founder of Sun Potion
We had the honor of interviewing Michael Baker - the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara County - who hosted the annual rally just last weekend...We are excited to share more about this event and how it supports the local youth with you!
“To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential, as productive, caring, and responsible citizens.”
An Interview with Michael Baker
What is the Boys and Girls Club, can you tell us more about it?
The United Boys & Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara County has clubs in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara (westside), Goleta, Buellton, Lompoc, Solvang and Camp Whittier along with 4 school-based locations. We serve school aged children with a proven youth development strategy that has a mission of inspiring and enabling all young people, especially those that need us most to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, healthy and caring citizens.
How did you become involved?
I started working for the Club as part of a college “Community Service Class" in 1988 and I immediately knew the second I walked into the Club that was what I was going to do the rest of my career.
What has been a challenging point in your work with the organization?
Every day is a different challenge. That’s what makes it so rewarding. We are working on behalf of kids who fall through the cracks of traditional fee-based programming.
What has been a highlight in your work with the club?
That’s easy. Every day has been an absolute pleasure working for Club whether it was in Albany New York, Lodi New Jersey, Everett Washington, Skagit County Washington, Bellingham Washington, Anaheim or Santa Barbara County. I have loved every single day. I am incredibly fortunate that I get to do a job that I love. I genuinely look forward to Monday’s.
How do you take children’s nutrition into consideration in your program?
Well about 85% of our members live on or below the poverty line and they qualify for the free or reduced lunch programs at school. Unfortunately, many of those families are forced to buy the cheapest groceries they can and way too often it is not the best quality. We make sure we partner with the Santa Barbara Unified School District and provide a very healthy meal every night for our members in our Goleta, Santa Barbara and Lompoc clubs.
When we came to visit the westside location, here in Santa Barbara, you were creating an amazing music room for the kids- in what other ways do you support the children in the creative arts?
We are looking to open another music center at our Goleta Club too. We have a strong Arts and Crafts program in each of our clubs where we use all types of mediums.
What are you personally super excited about in your life right now?
The fact that we are going to be able to expand our outreach to even more kids thanks to the Rally has me on cloud 9 right now!
Favorite Rally 4 Kids moment this year?
That’s easy. Seeing Michael Hammer cry on stage when he came up after the video played and we raised all the money for our outreach. Close second was meeting Sam, the Manager at Rusnak Porsche. I found out he is an Alum of our Lompoc Club. How cool is that?
What are you looking forward to for next year, Rally 4 Kids, The Boys and Girls Club and beyond?
Working with Monte and Maria again. Absolutely the best dynamic duo. Love those two.
To learn more about the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Barbara County, head here!
Scott Linde is a Champion Sponsor at the 2019 Rally!
With friends at the Rally 4 Kids 2019!
Photos courtesy: Kelsey Crews Photo
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