MHS senior Makenzie Kizis to be honored during an intimate evening with reggae royalty at the Boys & Girls Club of Malibu’s annual fundraiser.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
The Boys & Girls Club of Malibu will celebrate its 13th year of mentoring local youth with an intimate fundraiser this weekend, and the announcement of its 2012 Youth of the Year.
Makenzie Kizis, a senior at Malibu High School, “epitomizes everything the Boys & Girls Club strives to instill in its members,” BGCM Chief Professional Officer Kasey Earnest said. “Commitment to civic engagement, excellence in school, overcoming adversity—Makenzie has it all.”
Kizis has been a member of the club for seven years, attending nearly every day, while staying deeply involved in school volunteer programs like Operation Smile, the Torch Club and the New Hope Club. She unabashedly credits the Boys & Girls Club with influencing her moral character and instilling an outlook of tolerance and responsibility.
“I don’t know where I would be without the Boys & Girls Club,” Kizis said. “They helped me deal with a lot. You find every kind of religion, ethnicity and personality to learn from and now they’re my family. They’ve been there for me from the beginning.”
The impressive Kizis is the latest in a group of outstanding young people to come out of the club. Last year’s Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year, Violet Miehle, was the first BGCM representative to be named the Los Angeles County Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year, as well as go on to win the state competition and be named 2011 Boys & Girls Clubs of America, California Youth of the Year.
BGCM hosts 120 teens at their center above Malibu High School every day and provides professional youth development services to more than 1,200 youth annually. The club is a community organization operating strictly on donations, and earmarks its annual fundraiser monies toward specific goals.
“This year we’re looking to expand our program that helps kids who are in danger of not graduating get that diploma,” Earnest said. “Malibu High doesn’t have the best graduation rate for minorities and some of these students would be the first generation in their family to go to college. We help them get there.”
Saying that “everyone deserves the chance to go to college, no matter what background,” Earnest said that the pilot program, begun last year, should show very positive results within three years.
“These kids’ parents don’t always have the time or skills to help,” she said. “We take them once a month to a school campus like UC Santa Barbara or a trade school and mentor them academically. We also throw ‘financial aid’ parties because applying for that stuff can be very daunting.”
BGCM also provides summer school courses for Malibu Middle School students, since the district no longer funds this program. Earnest says the club wants eventually to expand these kinds of programs to local elementary schools as well, noting that 2nd and 3rd grades are known as “pinnacle grades” that deeply influence a student’s chance to move forward in the future.
The Boys & Girls Club operates more than 4,000 centers across the nation and internationally, including on every U.S. Naval base. Each club is responsible for its own fundraising, a priority that has risen in importance since the recession and a plunge in donations.
Earnest said that last year’s fundraiser brought in $180,000.
“That sounds like a lot, but three years ago, we raised $350,000,” she said. “Our annual operating budget is about $750,000 and that’s bare bones, considering we serve about 1,200 kids each year.”
This year’s fundraising gala will be held on a private Malibu estate and is being sponsored by major donors like Patron tequila and Chocolatebox Cafe in the Lumberyard. Malibu Farms will be catering the gourmet dinner, and Earnest said the evening’s entertainment is being provided by a “secret” international recording star and surprise special guests.
The ticket price of $500 is pegged to what Earnest said must be raised in order to continue to function as a club.
Brian Strange, BGCM president, said, “This event, while the best gala in Malibu, is also critical to help keep the doors open for the Boys and Girls Club. The club is the only organization in Malibu dedicated solely to all youths with time-tested programs that influence kids for the rest of their lives.”
Kizis, who will be addressing the gala, plans on attending Tulane University in New Orleans next fall. She said one of the first things she will be doing when she arrives is checking out the local Boys & Girls Club chapter.
“This club gave me the confidence to become the person I want to be,” Kizis said. “Now I want to mentor other kids so they get to become everything they want to be.”
Tickets for The Boys & Girls Club of Malibu fundraiser on June 2 are available by calling 310.457.1400 or visiting the website www.malibuyouth.org.