Orange County charity awards $10,000 to Cypress club

On June 21, the Boys & Girls Club of Cypress was honored at the Orange County Ronald McDonald House as a 2016 RMHCSC Community Grant Recipient. With the support from McDonald Cypress restaurant owner Isabelle Villasenor and restaurant manager Leisy Torres, the club will be awarded a $10,000 grant to purchase laptops for its technology lab.

On June 21, the Boys & Girls Club of Cypress was honored at the Orange County Ronald McDonald House as a 2016 RMHCSC Community Grant Recipient. With the support from McDonald Cypress restaurant owner Isabelle Villasenor and restaurant manager Leisy Torres, the club will be awarded a $10,000 grant to purchase laptops for its technology lab.
During the school year, the club averages over 170 children and youth each day and during the summer it averages over 225 children and youth each day, providing a variety of enrichment and recreation activities both inside and outside.  Over 100 youth use the technology center on a daily basis for various activities on a rotational schedule. The technology center can currently seat 21 students and has already exceeded capacity, and some youth are unable to use it as frequently as desired due to a lack of space and workstations.
Because of this grant, the club will be able to serve more youth more often by modernizing the computer technology in its learning and teen centers.  More students will have access to laptop computers, and they will have more options to use it during the day due to the increased workstation capacity.
This means that during the school year more youth will be able to utilize it for homework assignments and academic enrichment and during the summer more fun and enriching opportunities will be available that will help to decrease summer learning loss. During both the school year and the summer programs a variety of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, & Mathematics classes will be held in the learning and teen centers, where the computers will be used.   Over 65 percent of the club’s students qualify for scholarships and many of them do not have current or reliable computer or printing services available to them at home.
“We are so grateful to Cypress restaurant owner/operator Isabelle Villasenor and restaurant manager Leisy Torres for sponsoring our grant application. Please stop in to the restaurant on Valley View and tell them thank you on behalf of the Club.” says Anne Hertz, Executive Director.

This article appeared in the July 19 print edition of the News Enteprise.