The Charlotte Auto Show & The Boys & Girls Club

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – New carpet is what Shannallie Valerio really wants for one of the rooms at the Boys and Girls Club. She and other club members are clearing out the space for an upcoming room renovation. But it’s the people here, who really make the 13-year-old happy. Valerio says, “It’s just really fun. I get excited to come here.”

Valerio is one of about 2,100 kids in the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Charlotte. The youth development program runs after-school and summer programs for kids in 1st through 12th grade. Homework always comes first, then leadership, recreation, and sports. There’s even a garden the kids tend to and harvest, and sell the produce, to raise money for the club.

The work here is personal for the executive director. “Well, first of all, I’m a Club kid,” says Marty Clary. He says the Boys and Girls Club wants to expand into new spaces and add 1,000 new members over the next ten years. He says that sort of growth, and impact, simply wouldn’t be possible without, in part, its 15-year partnership with the Charlotte Auto Show. Clary says, “We truly appreciate the auto dealers and the Auto Show for their support of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Charlotte, and helping us to serve the kids that we serve in a better way than we could without them.”

One of those kids is Club member Jeremiah Stokes, who loves sports, saying, “I wanna be an NBA star,” and math, saying, “I like to solve problems, and I like to be challenged.”

Stokes, at ten years old, tells WCCB that when he grows up, he wants to donate money to the Boys and Girls Club. He says, “I wanna be a person who helps people.”

Helping people is a common theme here. 8th grader Valerio also wants to help people. She wants to be a neurosurgeon when she grows up, and she wants to be like the adults who make this special place possible. She says, “It makes me feel like I could also be one of those people when I grow up, that support other places for kids to learn.”

The Charlotte Auto Show also supports the Union County Community Shelter, YMCA of Greater Charlotte, the Charlotte Rescue Mission and the Isabella Santos Foundation.