The Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue came together to say thank you Wednesday afternoon to all their supporters within the community, including corporate sponsors.

The year-end celebration brought together over 550 youth, who arrived from the 12 clubs around the Bellevue area to play games and participate in several activities hosted in the main Bellevue Boys and Girls Club building, next to the downtown park.

Ryan Scott, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of The Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue, ran the event, and gave special shirts to members who were Youth of the Month for their own club.

“Each of the 12 clubs selects one member monthly who has demonstrated great effort in school, participation in club activities, good sportsmanship and community service,” Said Scott.

Scott also honored club members who were 100-Day Attendees – members who have attended the club for 100 days or more.

“Studies from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America indicate that kids who are consistently involved in Club after-school programs for 100-plus days will show increased school effort, higher levels of community service, and increased levels of confidence,” Scott said.

All of the sponsors also brought along employees to support activities, which included bounce houses, a carnival, hula-hoop contest, art projects and a BE GREAT video that featured all of the kids.

The participating corporate sponsors who fund the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue, also known as BE GREAT Champions, include Group Health, JC Penny, Expedia, Nintendo and Intelius.

Mika Yasuo, Resource Development Coordinator at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue, spoke of the contributions these companies, and others, have provided to the Clubs and their members.

“Thanks to the ongoing support in the Bellevue community, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Bellevue are able to continue providing life-saving educational, athletic and character-building activities to the future leaders of our community,” said Yasuo. “In the last year alone, the Club provided over $700,000 in scholarships to youth whose families were unable to pay program fees.”

While working year round, the club has offered over one million hours of programming to over 10,000 youth.

Conner Bowman is an intern with the Bellevue Reporter. He is a student at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma.