As a child with very little to do in Brookside and no father in my life, the Boy’s and Girl’s Club filled an important void in my life. The values that the club instilled in me are the same ones that I use in my day to day life to help me to help others. The club gave me the opportunity to do things that I would have not had the chance to do on my own such as: go to camp, ride four wheelers, and shoot a bow and arrow. The club is also responsible for bringing me to find my best friend, LaJarrid Baker. We are as close as brothers, we were in each others weddings, and he is even the God-father of my daughter. The club is an important part of the Brookside community and gives the city of Brookside something extremely positive to be proud of.

Even though I have not been a part of the club in Brookside since the year 2000, I still volunteer, mentor, and tutor at the club in Nashville. The BGC staff and counselors taught me the value of paying it forward and it is a principle that I truly believe in and practice. I show my loyalty to the club by mentoring a group of high school student athletes that are in the bad, fatherless areas and show them my world. The world that the club taught me was and is possible. Without the club the value of life in the Brookside community will without a doubt be in trouble. The club gives the youth that attend a stronger sense of worth and pride and it takes the stress of life off the minds of the kids that attend. This is what the club means to me and I will continue to pass on the lessons that I learned while I attended the club.

A.J. Nation

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