Self-effacing couple to receive Boys and Girls Club award
Nancy and Tom Laken will receive the Mary Frost-Ashley Patron Saint Award from the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha. The couple are being honored for their longtime support of the organization. ( KENOSHA NEWS PHOTO BY SEAN KRAJACIC )
BY DENEEN SMITH
dsmith@kenoshanews.com
Some people crave the spotlight. Tom and Nancy Laken are flattered, thank you very much, but would rather it shine on someone else.
The couple — longtime supporters of the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha along with a host of other kid-centered programs in the city — will receive the club’s top award for benefactors at the annual Stars for Tomorrow banquet next month.
They will receive the Mary Frost-Ashley Patron Saint Award for their efforts on behalf of the club.
The Lakens were honored, but a little uncomfortable at being the center of attention.
“It’s a little embarrassing for both of us,” said Nancy. “We’re just enthused and excited about what’s happening, but there are a lot of wonderful people who are involved who are more important than us.”
Ron Stevens, associate director of the Boys and Girls Club, said the Lakens have sponsored hundreds of teams over the years, for the club and one of its predecessors, the Christian Youth Council.
They have also been leaders in annual fundraising efforts and served on the capital campaign steering committee that led efforts to raise funds for the club’s new facility.
“Tom and Nancy are just the type of people who get involved with things in the community as part of their normal, daily routine,” Stevens said. “They feel like they need to give back to their community, and the CYC and the Boys and Girls Club are a big part of that.”
Tom and Nancy Laken grew up in Kenosha and operate their company, Finishing and Plating Service Inc. The company, which they purchased from Tom’s father in 1982, is celebrating its 60th anniversary.
According to Nancy, getting involved with organizations like the Boys and Girls Club is largely her husband’s idea. She said he feels businesses have a duty to give back to the communities they make home.
“My husband is very pro anything dealing with kids,” she said. “He’s a big supporter of the (Kenosha Youth Foundation) and the museum and the Boys and Girls Club, and they are all geared toward helping kids through difficult times to adulthood. What assets those organizations are for the community.”
Tom himself just chuckled when asked about the award. “Call my wife,” he said. “I’m not much on that stuff.”
Nancy was equally reluctant. “I was going to say talk to my husband,” she said.
While she didn’t like to talk about herself, she was pleased to talk about her husband of 47 years.
“He is a very nice man,” she said. “I am his biggest fan.”
The Lakens will receive their award at the “Stars for Tomorrow” Youth of the Year and Awards banquet Feb. 29 at Madrigrano Marina Shore.
UW-Parkside Students Benefit from Boys & Girls Club Donor – click here:
http://www.uwp.edu/news/newstemp.cfm?storyID=5182
2012 Winter Sports & Program Guide Now Available
The 2012 Winter “Kids Edition” guide to sports and programs at the Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha is now available.
The guide outlines all of the activities available through the club this winter. These include karate, field trips, lacrosse, soccer, basketball, rugby and martial arts. Also included in the guide are activities at the Natalie & Dennis Troha Youth Center and teen club (The Club).
The indoor sports activities will be hosted at the Joseph & Shirley Madrigrano Sports Complex, which includes the Johnson Bank fieldhouse and Kenosha’s only indoor soccer field.
The entire guide is available at http://www.bgckenosha.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/kusdbooklet_WINTERfinal.pdf
Updated on January 11, 2012• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Kenosha Area Noon Optimist Club Donates Entertainment Center
Thank you to the Kenosha Area Noon Optimist Club for your continuing sponsorship of the Boys & Girls Club of KenoshaEntertainment Center at the new club. Pictured above are (from left) Joel Pearlman, DonKresch, Dennis Duchene, Boys & Girls Club Chief Professional Officer Wally Graffen, Kathy Holland, Larry Nelson and Brian Jaffe. The Optimist Club also sponsors the club’s annual Youth of the Year awards banquet.
Updated on September 19, 2011
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Club Members Attend Cal Ripkin Baseball Clinic
On Friday, September 9, 45 members of the Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha baseball and softball programs participated in a free clinic put on by “Cal Ripken Baseball”.
The clinic was donated by Jim Labreche, one of the BGC summer baseball coaches, who entered the “Diamonds and Dreams” contest put on by Chevrolet.
At this three hour clinic, which was held at the old Little League Park, club members learned numerous infield, outfield, hitting and pitching skills.
The staff from Cal Ripkin Baseball gave eac
h participant a goodie bag and entered them into a drawing to win an autographed baseball or 8×10 autographed photo of the legendary Cal Ripken Jr. These prizes along with about 20 others were awarded at the end of the clinic.
Updated on September 14, 2011
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Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha participates in Kenosha Unified’s “Back to School” event
The Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha participated in the Kenosha Unified School District’s big Back to School event on Saturday, September 10. Families attended this fun event to receive free school supplies, meet representatives of local youth-serving agencies and enjoy a free lunch. The Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha would like to extend our appreciation to LMI Packaging, Inc. for providing volutneers and free cookies for all attendees to decorate and eat.
Updated on September 13, 2011
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Kids, community fun to be under one roof
Featured in Kenosha News
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-day series looking at the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha as it prepares to break ground on a new center this week.
BY MATTHEW OLSON
molson@kenoshanews.com
The former Christian Youth Council at 1715 52nd St., now part of the Boys and Girls Club of Kenosha, is only two blocks from the club’s future home at 14th Avenue and 52nd Street.
The change in location will not be dramatic. But the contents of the new building will be vastly different.
All operations from the CYC building and the club’s other facility at 3712 50th St. will move to the new center.
Ground for the 79,000-square-foot building will be broken at 4 p.m. Tuesday, and the club hopes to move in within a year.
While the building is estimated to cost $9.7 million, the organization wants to raise about $13 million to provide for the building and an endowment fund.
The city provided a $5 million donation in 2007. The campaign has mostly been conducted with large contributors, but Wally Graffen, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club, said the effort will become more public at some point.
“We’re very fortunate to have so much community backing,” Graffen said.
A look inside
The first floor of the new community center will allow for expanded programs for children, including a computer lab, a full-service kitchen and three multi-purpose rooms, which can serve 30 to 50 people each.
The gym will be the size of two high school gymnasiums, with room for multiple basketball and volleyball courts.
“It’s almost tripling our current gym capacity,” Graffen said.
There’s also a full-size indoor soccer field.
Soccer “draws in such a wide range of kids, and the field brings in a whole wide range of sports,” Graffen said. “More people play soccer than any other sport. It’s a big draw.”
Graffen said the field could be used for indoor football, a plus for the strong football programs already run through the Boys and Girls Club.
Also on the first floor is an outpost for the Kenosha Police Department. Specific use of the space is still being determined, but Graffen said police presence was a goal from the start.
Teen center
The second floor will be a teen center. No such space exists in Kenosha, and Graffen said creating this feature was a priority.
“We need a dedicated space for people between 13 and 18 years old,” Graffen said.
The space includes a video game room, a space for making art and a small theater, which can have additional seating for communitywide performances. A computer lab, teen-run concession stand and learning center are included.
“We had a teen focus group for what to have here, and their focus is different than what we thought,” Graffen said. “We didn’t have an art space before that group; we never even thought about that.”
Kenosha Police Chief John Morrissey sees a big benefit in the teen center.
“I am optimistic that it will result in reductions in some of the juvenile incidents we have from 2:30 to 10 p.m.,” Morrissey said. “There’s not a lot of places for youth to go and hang out as a group.”
The second floor also includes multiple offices for local non-profit organizations. The Spanish Center is the only organization to commit to the space, but Graffen said arrangements are being finalized with other organizations.
A pair of parking lots buffer the building. The site is accessible by several bus lines and is near the Kenosha Metra station.
“What else could you ask for in a location?” Graffen said.
Neighborhood boost
That location — near downtown, near an area of some blight — is important for future development in the area, Kenosha Mayor Keith Bosman said.
“Just having the land that was packaged for the Boys and Girls Club … and all the activity that comes with it will be a great improvement for that area and that neighborhood,” Bosman said.
Bosman said he hopes features such as the indoor soccer facility can lure tournaments and bring visitors to the area. And he sees the facility as a gathering place for all of Kenosha’s residents.
“It will be an amenity that is enjoyed by people throughout the community,” Bosman said. “No matter what age group you are, there will be some kind of programming for everyone in the community. … And it is certainly an investment in our children.”
Graffen said the club hopes to add baseball and softball fields at the site.
Inclusive building
Graffen said the goal is to make the building as inclusive as possible.
“You shouldn’t have a facility directed for just one purpose,” Graffen said. “This is for every walk of life.”
Graffen is looking forward to seeing the years of planning become a reality over the next few months, but mostly for being able to see people realize the potential of the building.
“I so look forward to seeing the first time that a kid swipes their card and starts using the game room or shooting hoops,” Graffen said. “That’s what I look forward to the most. We all just look forward to seeing kids take advantage of this facility.”
Updated on February 1, 2011
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Denzel Washington speaks out on Boys and Girls Clubs of America
Actor Denzel Washington recently published an article through CNN about his experiences being mentored at a Boys and Girls Club as a child. The article is available at CNN’s Web Site.
Updated on January 5, 2011
