Alumni
Our mission is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
Notable Boys & Girls Club alumni including Denzel Washington and Jennifer Lopez (co-national spokespersons), Ashanti, General Wesley Clark, Misty Copeland, John Paul DeJoria, Cuba Gooding Jr., Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Sugar Ray Leonard, Mario Lopez, Ne-Yo, Edward James Olmos, Lucille O'Neal, Shaquille O'Neal, Smokey Robinson, CC Sabathia, Martin Sheen, Courtney Vance, Kerry Washington, and Shaun Whitev.
BGC of Appalachia Alumni
Taylor Smith
Taylor Smith, a graduate of Harlan High School, is currently a nursing student on her way to becoming a nurse practitioner. She wants to pursue a career that coincides with her passion for helping others, something she says she gained from the many afternoons she spent at the Boys & Girls Club. “The Boys and Girls Club always showed me what compassion and care was like, even when I lacked both in my home life after the passing of my grandma. The Club and its staff were always there for me and gave me a sense of safety and security. I am forever grateful for that!”
Maddie Noe
Cawood Ledford Boys & Girls Club alum Maddie Noe was recently named Miss Kingsport 2019. Maddie, who is pursuing a pharmacy degree from ETSU, will go on to compete for the title of Miss Tennessee. She and her younger brother Trey attended the Club's afterschool program for years while their grandparents worked.
Gage Hopkins
Gage Hopkins attended the Cawood Ledford Club for eight years and travelled to Orlando, FL and Washington, DC with the Club. He served as a Club intern and was selected to present on the Club’s teen programming at a Keystone Conference. “If you ask me to this day, I’ll say I’m a 23 year old Club kid. It’s just hard to believe that I’ve had this second home, this second family, a place that helped shape the life I live now, for over a decade. I was a member of the Cawood Ledford Boys and Girls Club for ten years. I volunteered at the Madison county Boys and Girls Club for nearly 5, and now I work as the art club director for the club Located at Robert Frost 6th Grade academy, which is also the school I teach at! Being able to stand in the shoes of those who I admired so much throughout my life is just another amazing experience I’ve been able to have all thanks to those who supported me throughout the years at my hometown BGCA”.
Yin Chen
"I joined the Cawood Ledford Boys & Girls' Club when I was in middle school. My parents worked full-time, so the Club provided me a safe place for me to do my homework and spend time with my peers. I specifically remember being so excited about the computers in the lab, because this wasn't something I had access to at home. Since then, I have always been so thankful for my experiences in the Club. I have so many vivid, positive memories of hanging out with my friends and looking up to my older friends and leaders at the club. After high school, I went onto the complete my bachelor's degree in Psychology on a full-scholarship at the University of Kentucky. Now, I am currently a graduate student in Educational Psychology, with hopes to enter the field of academia. My research examines student motivation and learning in various contexts. Specifically, I'm interested in how social factors influence positive adolescent outcomes—much like how being involved with BGCA many moons ago helped me to succeed."
Christopher Brown
Christopher Brown was active in the Club's sports leagues as a young child and began participating in the Club's afterschool program as a teenager. He was selected to be a teen intern and was named the 2017 Cawood Ledford Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year. In February, 2017 he competed in Frankfort against Club members from organizations across the state and was judged on a variety of essays, recommendations from teachers and community leaders, school performance, Club service, and a speech about how the Club impacted his life. Each competitor had an amazing story to tell, but in the end, Chris was selected as the Kentucky State Youth of the Year.
"Being the 2017 Kentucky State Youth of the Year brought so many opportunities to me and opened so many doors in my life. I’m so thankful, blessed, and overjoyed to have had this wonderful experience! From the extensive summer camps, to the competition in itself... Youth of the Year is an amazing program for BGCA youth! I am so proud to say that I am a Boys and Girls Club member and a representative for my Club. I am forever grateful to the Boys & Girls Club and to all of the people who made Youth of the Year possible! I love Boys and Girls Clubs! And just so everybody knows... This, this time in my life, is the very beginning. My journey is nowhere near an end and I plan to leave a legacy and a story that nobody will ever forget! Great Futures really do start at the Boys and Girls Club. And it truly is the positive place for kids,"
Antony Saragas
My name is Antony Saragas. I am a professional poker player with a business degree living in Quepos, Costa Rica. I have orchestrated and assisted with several charitable Club projects.
Watching the growth of the Club from its inception provides lasting inspiration for me. My parents helped found the organization in the beginning, and I witnessed first hand the power of generosity and positivity. The Club's contribution to the betterment of kids over two decades challenges me to create opportunities for people who otherwise may never have been given a chance.
Corey Burns
The Club impacted my life in the most positive way possible. It took the meaning of citizenship and brought it to a whole new level for me. Club staff were compassionate and cared for children from all walks of life. They saw no labels. Seeing that truly inspired what I am doing now.I came from a middle-class loving family, but the Club never saw labels. All children were treated the same, from the wealthiest to the most disadvantaged, and that meant a lot to me. There were no cliques at the Club and social status meant nothing. I aspire each day that I wake to look beyond the labels and look toward a child’s progress and success in life. I am a proud alumnus of the Cawood Ledford Boys and Girls Club. I am also proud to say that I am a 5th Grade Special Education Teacher at Mercer County Intermediate School in Harrodsburg, KY”. Corey Burns began attending the Club when he was in middle school. He now teaches 5th grade and resides in Danville, KY
Haley Hall
I cannot say enough about my Boys and Girls Club. It really improved my life. I had more of a willingness to learn because of the wonderful atmosphere that the Club created. I was able to learn so much more than I would have if I just came home straight after school. Without the Club, I would have never had the drive to go to college and become a successful elementary teacher someday. The Club also taught me the importance of giving back, and this helped me to become a Bonner Scholar. My goal is to use the skills and knowledge that I gained from the Boys & Girls Club to give back to the community and be a positive light to others. Haley graduated from Harlan County High School and is currently a sophomore at Lindsey Wilson College. An elementary education major, she is a Bonner Scholar, peer mentor, SGA Senator, and ISB Ambassador. She volunteers with the local FRYSC, Camp for Courageous Kids, and the Adair County Victims Advocate.
Thomas Couch
Thomas Couch began attending the Club when he was in middle school. When Thomas learned about the Junior Staff career development program at the Club, he became determined to demonstrate to the staff that he could handle the responsibilities of this position. After months of hard work and determination, Thomas was selected to be a Junior Staff. In 2010, the Club took a select group of these young people on a field trip to Washington, DC. and visited the variety of war memorials and the changing of the guard, Little did Club staff know that one day, one of those teens would grow up to serve his country through the air force. Thomas has been in the Air Force for four years and currently resides in Korea with his wife.
Sara Donahue
Sara Donahue was once a Boys & Girls Club kid, participating in the Club's basketball and soccer teams as a young child. At age fifteen, she began attending the afterschool program at the Cawood Ledford Club, where she volunteered as a peer tutor and participated in teen programming. During her senior year of high school, she was named the Cawood Ledford Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year. She later became employed at the Club as a program facilitator, working a total of five years throughout high school and college. Sara is a graduate of Harlan High School. She received a Bachelors in Human Services and Masters of Arts in Christian Studies, both from University of the Cumberlands. Sara now serves as the Area Director of the Union College Boys & Girls Club. "I was awarded Youth of the Year at my Club and went on to compete in Frankfort. Although I didn't win, going and competing was a great experience for me. It not only helped me to become more comfortable with public speaking but it taught me to always be proud of myself in everything I do, to have more confidence in myself. Those were lessons that I would carry with me into my college career."After all of my experience being at the Boys and Girls Club I knew that I wanted to go into a helping profession. I wanted a job that made me feel like I had true purpose in my life. One Friday evening I had received a call from Kateena Haynes, my previous supervisor at the Boys and Girls Club in Harlan, telling me that there was an opening as the Area Director at the Boys and Girls Club at Union College. She asked if I wanted to apply for it. Of course I did! This was something that I loved doing and would be something that I was passionate about! I would be doing something that I felt like gave me a bigger sense of purpose. I just started in my position as Area Director at the Boys and Girls Club at Union College and I am already so happy. Not only am I in a position where I feel like God has called me to and created me for, but I am back to working for Kateena which is also such a huge blessing. She has been such an inspiration for me and somebody that I look up to, and I love how everything has come full circle. She has seen me go from a Club kid, to a volunteer, to a worker, and now to an Area Director. I'm so blessed to have somebody like Kateena be with me through this journey I have had with the Boys and Girls Club. It has taken a long time to get here, but I have no doubt that I am exactly where God wants me to be. I'm thankful to have been given this opportunity and am determined to make a difference in the lives of my Club kids. My passion is to make sure that they know they are loved, valued, and cherished, because that was something that was instilled in me many years ago when I was a Club kid. Now it's my turn to do the same."