In 1974, the Marr Family rallied their friends, neighbors, and business associates to build Boys & Girls Clubs of Dorchester as a youth facility and community organization in the neighborhood they loved. It was simple: Dorchester kids needed a Club. They did in 1974, and they do in 2025 and beyond.
Over the years, the Club realized Dorchester kids need more than just a place, they need people, programs, and possibilities. People like Mike Joyce, Queenie Santos, and Chad Hassey. Programs like Early Education, After School, Challenger sports, and Project BIND. And possibilities to get help with homework, eat healthy dinners with friends, learn musical instruments, attend Broadway shows, and even compete in national swim meets.
But what’s been left unsaid for too long is how much Dorchester needs Club kids. Club kids learn from an early age that they are part of a community. Their voice and opinions matter. Adults here listen to their problems and encourage them to make things better for everyone. Dorchester Club Kids are respectful, empathetic, engaged, and curious. They grow up to be Dorchester’s leaders: police officers, firefighters, teachers, doctors, lawyers, parents, city council members, non-profit executives.
There are tens of thousands of Dorchester Club Kids, but we need your help to find them and tell their stories, and we need your generosity to make sure the next generation of Dorchester Club Kids have what they need to succeed.
This giving season, we need your help with 3 things:
- 1. Help us reconnect with Dorchester Club Kids by tagging them on socials or forwarding this page
- 2. Tell us your favorite memories of being a Dorchester Club Kid by filling out our form
- 3. Make a gift to support today’s Dorchester Club Kids online
