COMMUNITY & CULTURE
NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT
MATHEWS-DICKEY HELPS YOUTH GET FIT
Jaylen Bledsoe, right, helps
students expand their ideas
and concepts at
Entrepreneurship University.
From young entrepreneurs and ambassadors
to healthy babies, children and families,
Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club is
helping people “Get Fit for the Future.”
One of the 55-year-old United Way
member agency’s core philosophies is that
academics and athletics can and should
co-exist. At a time of turbulence in North
County, Mathews-Dickey expanded its
Redbird Rookies baseball league to serve an
additional 130 children at its Bob Russell Park
in Bellefontaine Neighbors. Thanks to some
great community partners and tax credits
from the State of Missouri, this “field of
dreams” will be renovated over the next three
years to serve even more. With support from
the United Way, Mathews-Dickey was able to
offer scholarships to 70 students from these
targeted zip codes and others to enjoy its
Summer Day Camp at no charge.
In line with the organization’s Get Fit for the
Future theme, students in the club’s computer
and tutorial classes created PowerPoint slides
focusing on improved nutrition and exercise.
The organization also launched the Healthy
Babies, Children and Families infant mortality
initiative, funded by the Missouri Foundation
for Health, to promote awareness of a crisis
effecting St. Louis, and interventions that can
turn the tide.
Sheer Elegance Honorees
Offering programs for youth and by youth is also
important to the club. Twenty Mathews-Dickey
Deaconess Youth Ambassadors led a community
conversation with lawmakers, educators, business
people and other concerned citizens, addressing issues
and interventions to keep their peers on the right side
of the law and achieving classroom success. One of the
suggested interventions was offering youth opportunities
to become financially independent and avoid the lures of
quick money. To that end, the club teamed up with teen
CEO Jaylen Bledsoe to offer an 11-day entrepreneurship
university to teach students how to take their ideas
from concept to reality. Both these initiatives represent
a furthering of “The Sky is the Limit” and “Maleness to
Manhood” programs, focused on giving youth mentors
career training and college scholarships.
With the fall season arriving,
Bulldog football and cheerleading
squads are filling fields all over
St. Louis. Children will also
enjoy after-school and weekend
programming that focuses on
the arts, recreation, computer
literacy, homework help and
more. One of the highlights will
be a special moment for 20 teen
honorees and 20 tweens in the
annual Sheer Elegance Fashion
Show at 11 a.m., Sat., Dec. 8.
Prior to the show, these young
women receive eight and five
weeks respectively of personal
development and choreography
training. They’ll also get to
interact with international
model Jennie Runk and “Project
Runway” alumni Michael
Drummond, Qristyl Frazier,
Laura Kathleen, Shan Keith and
AJ Thouvenot, who showcase
their fashions.
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To get involved,
call (314) 679-5228 or visit
www.mathews-dickey.com.
SAVVY I SOPHISTICATED I SASSY