A safe place

Job readiness and Youth of the Year program

While most programs are in the areas of education, fitness and social recreation in recent years, the organization has emphasized job-readiness, that is, providing advice and skills which prepare teens for paid part-time work.

“The job readiness program teaches kids how to dress, ethics and more…this summer kids have had a hard time finding employment,” said Carito.

Its marquis effort, the Youth of the Year program, asks participants to obtain 12 letters of reference, complete eight writing projects, submit to a 15-minute interview before a panel of judges, and give a three-minute speech. It’s a year-long competition which starts out with a Youth of the Month challenge.

“Personally, I enjoy the process more than the results,” said Carito, who agreed that participating in the Youth of the Year program takes “quite a bit of work.”

The Saugerties club’s 2008 Youth of the Year, Dominick Dejesus, today studies criminal justice at UCC. A self-portrait Dejesus painted a few years ago hangs in Carito’s office.

The club is for everyone

Sue Worthman, president of the Saugerties Boys & Girls Club, thinks there’s a misconception out there about the club.

“The perception is that the club is for the less-advantaged and lower socio-economic groups, and that’s just not true,” said Worthman, who became involved through IBM’s community service activities. Worthman has lived in the same home in Barclay Heights for 37 years, ever since relocating to Saugerties from Brooklyn. The former homemaker, who also worked for IBM for 20 years, has been active with the club for 13 years.

“When something happens in the village, the community seems to think that it’s one of our kids, and that’s simply not the case. We’d love to have the high achievers and we simply don’t because of this lingering perception that the club is for lower-income kids. That’s just wrong.”

Even in friendly, diverse “coolest small town” Saugerties, children from wealthier families do not tend to join. Worthman says that’s because their parents provide other types of after-school recreation, instruction, and daycare.

Worthman said all community-service work for IBM is done through United Way.

Being on the volunteer board requires a time commitment of one night a month, and its main duty is fundraising, although board members with special skills, such as computer expertise, also donate those services freely. Securing sponsorship for the club’s various events is much tougher since the economic downturn, said Worthman, an avid tennis player who recently co-founded a party-planning business called The Sky’s The Limit.

The Saugerties Unit supervises a licensed childcare program offered at Cahill, Grant D. Morse, Mount Marion and Riccardi Elementary, to which children go directly following school and get picked up at 6 p.m., and where snacks are provided. Childcare fees are $125 a month, or $105 per child if two or more sign up.

“When I was growing up in Brooklyn, the police would march the ‘bad boys’ – there was no Girl’s Club then – straight from the police station and into the Boys Club, and there’s still that stigma,” said Worthman.

Perhaps “Hidden Talents,” with her statuesque good looks, soft-spoken ways, and educated background, will finally bring about that much-hoped-for diversity. In a youngster’s world often short on role models, O’Connor and Carito truly “Shine On Saugerties.”