Why donate?

By pledging your support to Boys & Girls Clubs, you are positively impacting the lives of thousands of young people and, ultimately, the future of our community. With your help, we will provide the safe, supportive environment children and youth need to reach their full potential, whatever issues they are dealing with.

“We have a vision where everyone takes responsibility for the children and youth in Victoria. After all, they are the future of our community. We all want to see Victoria thrive and we will be reliant on these future leaders for that. It is only fair we give them the best start possible.” David Curtis, CEO, Viking Air

We keep our programs and services affordable, and in many cases, offered free of charge to families of limited means. We regularly give out subsidies or waive fees for programs to ensure that no child misses out due to financial reasons. This means donations from individuals, businesses, and organizations are essential in providing the programs and services children and youth in Greater Victoria both need and deserve.

Your support allows us to sustain and expand our programming, to run events, to continue to attract top quality staff and to move constantly forward to realize our vision to strengthen community by empowering children, youth and families. We are a local organization, so you can be certain that your donation will be an investment in Victoria. Without your help, we couldn’t do what we do every day for the children and youth in Victoria. Please read on to find out which areas need your support, or click here to donate.

Where we need support

You can leave it up to us to determine which area most needs your donation or you can direct it to a particular program or fund. These are some of the areas currently in need of support:

Community Clubs

Youth Leadership

Rite of Me

Summer Camp

Metchosin Camp (Adventure Based Learning, Camp facilities development, Garden/Environmental Projects)

Events

Community Clubs

At Boys & Girls Clubs we believe it is all about relationships, relationships, relationships! Most of us can identify a significant relationship with an adult or mentor during our childhood that really helped us become what we are today. The staff and volunteers at our Community Clubs build those relationships every day through a variety of out of school programs. All programs provide social, recreational and educational opportunities in a safe and fun environment.  

The Community Clubs are a vital, yet underfunded, part of Boys & Girls Clubs that rely mostly on donations for operating costs.

For more information on each Community Club, please see the individual pages:

City Central Club (1240 Yates Street)

Central Saanich Club (7162B West Saanich Road)

Harbourside Esquimalt Club (410 Macaulay Street)

Millstream Club (626 Hoylake Road at Millstream Elementary School).

Youth Leadership

Our two Youth Leadership programs for young people aged 10 – 17, engage youth in activities that increase their sense of self-worth and awareness of their role in the creation of caring neighbourhoods. The programs provide various interactive workshops, training and practical experience for participants that helps develop leadership and other skills. Although youth leaders actively engage in fundraising, donations are required to enable us to run this program. Read more about Youth Leadership programs here.

Rite of Me
This series of workshops uses a collaborative approach to integrating young urban based 10 - 14 year old girls to the wilderness and experiential education realm. It is recognized that females seem to have more difficulty delving into outdoor activities than males. This program is aimed at encouraging the experience with an easier transition, at the same time offering healthy choices and lifestyles. We cannot run this program unless we receive donations or grants to support it. Read more about Rite of Me here.

Earth Adventures Summer Day Camps
Boys and Girls Clubs are more than a place to go, they are a place to grow, and we have developed summer programs that help children do just that. Our Earth Adventures Day Camps operate throughout the summer for children and youth ages 6 to 12. Based in Metchosin with nearly 100 acres of forests, trails, meadows and ponds, we are only a short walk away from Witty's Lagoon and the ocean. Our day camps provide valuable opportunities for young people to not only explore the outer world through hiking, canoeing and climbing but also to explore their 'inner' world utilizing drama and arts and crafts activities and just simply interacting with fellow campers and summer staff. Donations to the camps allow us to provide ‘camperships’ (free or subsidized places) to families. Give the gift of a summer camp experience!

More information on Summer Camp can be found here.

Metchosin Camp - ABL
Adventure Based Learning (ABL) emphasizes successful teamwork and problem solving in an outdoor setting. Programs are specially designed to meet the needs of the group and provide experiences that challenge, educate, reward and provide insight into their individual strengths and abilities, whether adult or child. With your support we will be able to utilize ABL in more of our internal programming and greatly expand our services to serve external organizations and groups in Greater Victoria.

Camp Development

Our hugely successful Create a Ripple campaign allowed us to take ownership of 98 acres of largely undeveloped land in beautiful Metchosin and build some infrastructure on that land. Now a multi-purpose wilderness space for many of our programs, there is potential to develop that space even further. Funds are needed to support trail development, ecological education, land stewardship and improvement of communal areas, such as the camp kitchen.

Garden Project

The vision for this 10,000 square foot space is to create a self-subsidizing youth care oriented agricultural garden whose design and operation models sustainable social, environmental and economic practices. The agricultural garden will be a space for experiential education, mentoring, horticultural therapy, vocational training and life-skills development that engages participants in community development through food production and land stewardship. Although the garden is already in progress and is producing a wide range of organic vegetables, we are currently in need of funding to supply equipment, seeds and additional organization support to further develop this project.

For more information on Metchosin Camp, please click here.

Event Sponsorship

By attending or sponsoring our events you are showing your support for our work and helping raise funds for our programs. We also occasionally put on public workshops on various topics. Sponsorship of workshops and events provides added value for the sponsor. For more information, see 'Ways_to_support us' or check out the upcoming events at 'What’s Happening?'