Executive Director will soon leave the Boys & Girls Club
As Executive Director Bob DeAngelo leaves the Greenwich Boys and Girls Club in a few months, we think of his tremendous contribution to the town. We all know him as a visionary in the Greenwich community, a graduate from GHS and Bucknell University, a US Navy officer, as an executive travelling the world for Texas Instruments, and an avid cyclist who recently biked across the USA to raise funds for the Club. So what's his sailing legacy? 15 years ago Tom O’Connell started to sail in Greenwich waters and was so impassioned by boating and what it’s contributed to him personally that he wanted to give back in some way. Inspired by the Young Mariners Foundation of Stamford, four years ago he approached the Greenwich Sail and Power Squadron ( www.GreenwichSPS.org ) and Greenwich Community Sailing (www.GreenwichSailing.com ) to hold a fundraiser to start up the Young Mariners of Greenwich. Bob DeAngelo immediately stepped in – wanting HIS children to have the chance to be inspired by boating. Bob made it all happen and made the BGCG’s sailing program the success it is today. Thank you, Bob, we will miss you and your inspiration; please don’t go far away.How does the program work? Each year twelve children are chosen and on behalf of the United States Power Squadrons® I introduce them to some safety basics. They learn the importance of wearing a well fitted life vest, of boarding a boat correctly so it doesn’t capsize, how to check for inclement weather, and the parts of a boat. Soon ‘the pointy end’ becomes ‘the bow’ and ‘left’ becomes ‘port’ and ‘red right returning’ reminds them to keep the red buoys to the right of the boat when they return to port. I don’t know if they believe me when I say that the 50 degree water in a cooler I bring into class one day is from the Long Island Sound, but after they have been asked to hold their arm in it for ten seconds, they remember forever the meaning of ‘hypothermia’.
The Young Mariners then go through a complete STEM-based program that includes swimming, CPR/First Aid, environmental awareness and some wonderful time on the water learning from the Greenwich Community Sailing at the Point. Greenwich Sail & Power Squadron members and all the local yacht clubs take the children out for afternoon sails – always with safety highlighted and some instruction involved. The whole boating community contributes - and is exactly the kind of program Bob DeAngelo loves for his boys and girls. It epitomizes the club’s mission, “To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to realize their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”
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What are the results? Just ask Kevin Wing (shown here with First Selectman Peter Tesei at Graduation). Two years ago he wasn’t doing well in school and was destined to go to summer school to make up work. He pleaded to go on the Young Mariners sailing program instead. The next semester his grades rocketed to all As and when asked how this happened, he said: 'Sailing. I had to know how to learn and how to focus to stay in it, and I guess I started doing that in school.' He has since become a mentor for the class that followed him.
How is this possible? Funds are raised from the communities of Greenwich and Stamford and members of the Young Mariners Foundation ( www.youngmarinersfoundation.org ) hold an annual “Keeping Kids on Course” Gala Event. This year it will be held at the Stamford Yacht Club on Thursday April 24, 2014. The festivities will run from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and feature gourmet tasting stations, music from the Paul Kempner All Stars Band and a live and silent auction hosted by former television and radio personality, David Smith. If you would like to receive an invitation to the event, please call the Young Mariners Foundation at 203-348-9000, or email: events@youngmarinersfoundation.org.
