The Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County

The Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County founded in 1974 on South Bend’s Southwest side after a local business owner noticed an increase in children hanging on the streets. The club offered fun, educational activities in a safe setting while being supervised by adults. In those days the Boys & Girls Club only served 20 to 30 kids, now the clubs serve over 1,100 children ranging in age from 5-18 years old across 5 different locations in Mishawaka and South Bend.

Boys & Girls Club of St. Joseph County Great Big Kids Event

The Great Big Kid Event is an annual event that takes place every spring. Several community members volunteer their time to mentor a club member for several months, creating lasting meaningful relationships with their club member. These volunteers are also asked to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club and to really be an advocate for all the club members. This is the only major fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County which is a vital event to help maintain general operating expenses for all 5 locations. This year 6 different community leaders took the role of mentoring these extraordinary youth and helped us to nearly double the original goal of raising $350,000 by raising a grand total of $634,425.59. Making this years Great Big Kids Event our greatest success yet.

Thank you to this years 2019  teams

Kelly Bellinger

KellBell designs

Braxton Cave

Lippert Components

Robert Hyde

Gibson

Melissa Lechlitner

University of Notre Dame

Ashley Murray

Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County

Mike Palmer

Barnes & Thornburg