Acadiana's News Leader East Bayou Baptist Church Gives Back to the Boys & Girls Clubs

LAFAYETTE, LA – Five huge Carpet Ball Game Tables were recently built and donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana. Every year the East Bayou Baptist Church has a Family Project Day.  This is a day for the families of their church to meet the needs of their community through helping with individuals and organizations. They were very excited with the thought that they would be able to help the Clubs. This years project took 2 days, a total of 10 hours and 15 people.  East Bayou Baptist Church member and UL student, Hillary Ozenne says, "Doing this was amazing! I hope to be able to partner with Boys & Girls Clubs again." This was the Church's first experience helping the Boys & Girls Clubs and they plan on continuing their effort to help the Clubs.

The primary builders were part of the small college group from East Bayou Baptist Church. Most of the builders were students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Kevin Phillips, Family Pastor from East Bayou Baptist Baptist Church says, "We wanted to help out our community in a tangible way. When we heard about the work that the Boys & Girls Clubs do, we were excited to help give them a tool to enhance their environments to impact children. Though we may think college students would not do something like this and give over 10 hours of their lives over 2 days, these students are different. They are realizing that as they learn about living out their faith, it must translate into love and action. It was not hard to convince the students to do this project."

The tables are set up for 2 players to stand on each end with 5 pool balls. They are able to  set up the pool balls however they want on their end. One player gets the cue (white) ball and rolls it to the opposite players side trying to knock the balls in the opposite sides box. When one player clears the opponent's side, they are the winner. It's a simple game, but East Bayou Baptist Church members say that they have found more children playing that in the Churches gaming area than any of the video gaming systems. East Bayou Baptist Church member and UL student, Tobey Osborne says, "It was great to help out in this way. I pray the children enjoy the game tables."

The next Family Project Day at the East Bayou Baptist Church will be in November of 2012.

Boys and Girls Clubs (BGC) is a local organization that changes lives by enabling all young people, especially those who need us most to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. BGC offers a safe place for children from 6 different Clubs to learn and grow, to develop ongoing relationships with caring adult professionals, a sense of hope and opportunity. BGC offers year round programs for children 6 to 18. For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs, please visit www.bgcacadiana.com or our Facebook Page "Boys & Girls Clubs of Acadiana."

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