Sabrina Anderson: Mentoring the Next Generation
Story by Olivia Bell
Photos by Hannah Gore
“It takes the whole community to help support the club. Grants are important because they help support what we do, but really, the community has to believe in what we do and who we are,” Sabrina Anderson said.
On my way to interview Sabrina Anderson, the CEO of the Boys and Girls Club in Jackson, I had those classic “pre-interview nerves,” the kind of nerves you get anytime you go somewhere you’ve never been or prepare to have an in-depth conversation with a person you’ve never met. I arrived in the parking lot at 9:29 a.m. Perfect timing. I walked up to the door and rang the buzzer for someone to let me in. I had never been to the Boys and Girls Club, and I had never met Sabrina before today. Yet, when she greeted me at the door, I felt as if I had been greeted by a friend.
The Boys and Girls Club of Jackson is an after-school and summer program focused on serving over 800 youth each year, ages 5-18. The Club’s mission is to provide kids with a safe and enriching environment to nurture them and help them grow as individuals and citizens through programming, homework help, and staff who really care.
One of the first things Sabrina said to me when we walked into her office was that the Club wants children “to understand that this is a safe space and they can talk to people who can be role models for them.” As I sat down in the chair across from Sabrina, I could tell that she deeply believed in this goal and practiced it all the time. At that moment, my pre-interview nerves fluttered away, and I was left in awe that after 25 years, Sabrina continues to work hard to achieve the Boys and Girls Club mission.
“Our mission is to enable all young people, especially those that need us most, to help them realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens,” Sabrina said.
The Boys and Girls Club strives to help kids succeed, and usually, that starts with meeting their physical needs first. When they arrive at the Club after school, they receive a hot meal, because you can hardly ever be productive if you are hungry. After that, they can go to any of the rooms in the building and start working on their homework.
“We want them to understand that we're going to help them with their homework or help them have fun, but we're going to teach them some things along the way. My whole role is to support that,” Sabrina said.
While the Club focuses heavily on meeting those primary needs, they also care about helping children learn new things.
“You want learning to be fun, and hands-on is typically your best avenue to keep kids engaged,” Sabrina said.
The Club’s building has entire rooms dedicated to STEM with technology, 3D printers, bots, snap circuits and computers. There are game rooms, fitness rooms with machines to get kids moving after long days of sitting in a classroom, an art room with supplies where they can work on arts and crafts and whatever their creative minds can come up with, a basketball gym, and plenty of outdoor space for them to run and play and just be kids. The Club is more than just a fun place to hangout, however. Often, the team brings in speakers and guests to host lessons on hygiene, nutrition, and even on how many minutes to brush your teeth. They also have people come and speak on more difficult issues, issues that really matter and have a direct impact on kids’ futures.
“We really believe that great futures start at the Boys and Girls Club because we try to give them the foundation of what they need, meaning in their moral compass and character development,” Sabrina said. “We do talk about alcohol and tobacco and drugs. We talk about gangs. We talk about conflict resolution, we talk about proper touch, we talk about dating. Kids get things from their peers. They get things from the internet. But they need to have a responsible adult to be able to say, ‘Hey, that's not good. This is not the way you treat a lady. This is not the way you talk to a friend or treat a friend and this is how we share.’”
In a very practical way, the Boys and Girls Club is meeting a huge need in our community. There are many parents working multiple jobs who have sought guidance in how to best love and take care of their children when they are not home. For many, the Club has become a safe place people can run to, parents and kids alike.
“The hours of 3-6 are one of the peak times for crime. We're providing a safe place in a positive environment and teaching them things other than the negative. Our slogan previously was ‘A positive place for kids’ because you're making sure that they're being nurtured and learning. For me, I think we're keeping the kids when they need us most, when their parents aren't there. We have everything that they need right here,” Sabrina said.
At the end of our interview, Sabrina took me on a tour and showed me around the building where many kids in our city spend their afternoons. She showed me the STEM room, the gym, the computer lab, all places that reminded me fondly of the elementary school where I did most of my learning.
When she took me to the art room, I was immediately hit with the most nostalgic smell known to man: crayons, paint, and glue — the beginnings of creativity. I stood there, thinking about how formative those years were for me, and how many of these kids will hopefully look back and think the same fond thoughts about this place and how it helped them grow and how it made them learn. This place and its people have so much to offer.
“These kids are our future, and so you have to shape them. You have to develop them. You have to mold them into these productive, caring, and responsible citizens that our mission shares. I love the Boys and Girls Club, and I've been a part of it for 25 years. I always tell people I work hard because I believe in what I do. I know who I serve. You need to have a purpose in life, and I think God is using me as that vessel to help carry out the mission of the Club here,” Sabrina said.
It takes hard-working, resilient, patient, and kind people like Sabrina and her staff to do what they do. As far as CEOs go, Sabrina is one of the most involved and hands-on that I have ever seen. She is there opening the doors in the morning and locking up after the kids go home at night.
“My whole world seems to be the Boys and Girls Club. I know, of course, my family and God are always important, but the Club, no matter what, no matter where I go, I'm seeing people and they recognize me as the Boys and Girls Club. They've given me that identity,” Sabrina said. “I work hard, but my team works hard. My team are the people that help carry out this mission. [The kids] remember the staff, not necessarily the programs that we run, but the staff that were there for them. And if it's tough love, it's tough love, because you have to remember, if you don't discipline a child, then they can go astray, and it's not going to be a good thing for them. You’ve got to show them love and discipline.”
In so many ways, like Sabrina said, these kids are the future of our community. And if we want a thriving community, we need to pour into the generations that come after us.
“It's called opening their eyes to new opportunities. For me, if you can teach them a different way of life, if you can break the cycles that are negative in their world and show them something new, then you have it. I call my kids diamonds in the rough, because if you polish them and work on them, they'll shine bright,” Sabrina said.