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By Buzz Trexler

Star Correspondent

Six-time Olympic medal winner Jackie Joyner-Kersee knows the gold that can be found in the lives of children, whether it is in urban East St. Louis, Ill., or a small town in Appalachia, and she believes the way to mine it is through community resources like a Boys & Girls Club.

The Olympic legend and philanthropist who was the keynote speaker at the Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County “Great Futures Dinner” on Thursday night at the Tennessee Center for Applied Technology told attendees it is “crucial for Boys and Girls Club to exist.”

Joyner-Kersee speaks from her experience of growing up in an impoverished community that was, and is, in the shadow of St. Louis – directly across the Mississippi River from the iconic Gateway Arch. One New York Times reporter wrote of it in 1975 – when the then-Jackie Joyner would have been 13 years old – saying East St. Louis stood “as an unfortunate example of what happens when a city is allowed to deteriorate to the point of desperation.”

Even today, about 1 in 3 people in East St. Louis live at or below the poverty line, which is why Joyner-Kersee speaks from her experience of returning to the community and forming the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation in 1988. The foundation raised more than $12 million to build the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center, a 41,000-square-foot facility with a 1,200-seat gymnasium on a 37-acre site. The center fulfills the largely unmet need for youth recreation and a sports venue in East St. Louis, but also making sure “each and every one of our kids can read at grade level.”

“Just doing after-school programming, modeling everything after the Boys and Girls Club, because it had a significant impact not only on my life, but also the lives of the young people that’s in that community and still in the community today,” Joyner-Kersee said. 

The woman who Sports Illustrated called the “Greatest Female Athlete of the 20th Century” stressed the importance of after-school learning, because the hours of 3 and 6 p.m. are when unsupervised children can get into trouble.

“Having a Boys and Girls Club in this community makes a tremendous difference,” Joyner-Kersee said as she encouraged them to support the club. She said doing so allows every giver and volunteer to make an investment. “You have taken the opportunity to have a vested interest in those young people, to see that investment materialize, and come back 10 and 15 years down the road,” she said.

Joyner-Kersee has earned three Olympic gold medals, one silver and two bronze. Throughout her Olympic career, she dominated the Olympic heptathlon and long jump events. Her world heptathlon record set at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, still stands today. 

Randall Merritt Scholarship Announced

During the dinner, Boys & Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County CEO Shelly Parham announced the Youth of the Year Scholarship would be expanded and renamed the Randall Merritt Youth of the Year Scholarship in recognition of his leadership, commitment to excellence, and advocacy for the Boys and Girls Club. The scholarship fund, which Parham said has reached $80,000, supports youth who are in the program as they continue their education in a two-year or four-year college, or vocational school or apprenticeship program.

“We knew the scholarship would be a motivator and inspiration for our teens, and our teen program has doubled in the past two years,” Parham said. “It offers hope and affordability to education that may not have been there for a young person prior to this effort.”

Chevelle Hicks, who this year was named the club’s first Junior Youth of the Year, joined Parham on stage as the announcement was made.

“I know why you’re here,” Parham told the supporters. “You’re here because your hearts are big and you’re an Olympian champion also of kids.”

Parham spoke of the undue hardships faced by many children in the community, and often the club “is a part of the solution” for struggling families. “I know the impact we have on this community as an essential — and I stress the word essential — part of it.”

According to the Census, Carter County’s poverty rate is 18.1 percent, above the state and national level; for children under the age of 18, it is 27.4 percent.

“We are the reason many families are able to maintain their employment,” Parham said. “I know each child that walks through our blue doors is in a safe place after school and they’re not home alone. They get homework help, tutoring, they go in our beautiful gyms and get physical activity, and they get a hot meal that’s cooked on site every night.” About 160 children a day are served by the club, Parham said.

Supporters also heard from Aerial Dye, who told the story of how the club has helped provide emotional and other resources as she cares for her niece, Abigail, who has suffered a great deal of loss since the age of 3. “Every single person in this room has played a part in raising and caring for this child when I thought I was alone in it,” Dye said. “And for that, my family and I are eternally grateful beyond words. And time after time, you all leave me speechless, speechless, with your generosity and kindness.”

WJHL Sports Director Kenny Hawkins emceed the event.

The mission of the Boys and Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County is to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. The program started in 1947 as the “Boys Club,” but extended its outreach and changed the name to the Boys and Girls Club in the 1990s. The club picks up students from 12 different schools and parents pay $12 a week for the after-school program, while it costs about $26 per child, per day. 

The club is located at 104 Hudson Drive in Elizabethton. The phone number is 423-543-2946. To find out more, go to bgcecc.org, or you can also find the club’s social media accounts at facebook.com/bgcecc and instagram.com/boysgirlsclub.e.