A HEART FOR CHILDREN : BOYS & GIRLS CLUB DIRECTOR DEVOTES HIS TIME TO HELPING JOE MIRAMONTES RUNS THE FACILITY, BUT HE ALSO TRIES TO BE FRIEND TO KIDS.Byline: Karen Thacker Community Columnist columnist, the writer of an essay appearing regularly in a newspaper or periodical, usually under a constant heading. Although originally humorous, the column in many cases has supplanted the editorial for authoritative opinions on world problems. The Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley Boys & Girls Club Girls Club is a 2002 American television series created by David E. Kelley, who was also it's producer and executive producer. Only two out of a total of thirteen episodes created were broadcast on Fox Television in the United States and Global Television in Canada. , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the club's executive director, can be summed up in one name: Joe Miramontes. By title, he's the program director for some 30 to 70 kids who show up at the Palmdale facility every weekday and Saturday. But to many of the kids here who come from single-parent homes, he's much more: He's a father figure. ``He's their dad - a role model, father figure for a lot of these kids,'' says Executive Director Jay Duke. For kids like 10-year-old Justin Hamilton Justin Hamilton (born September 17, 1982) is a safety for the Cleveland Browns. He was drafted in the 7th round of the 2006 NFL draft and signed a 4-year contract to play for the Browns in July 2006. , he's ``Uncle Joe.'' Every day after Justin gets off the school bus, he walks a short distance to the city's Hammack Activity Center, where the Boys & Girls Club is located, and plays pool or table tennis, or gets on the computer to ``write book reports or your homework sometimes, or just play games,'' he said. From 3 to 6 p.m., Justin stays at the Boys & Girls Club, and that's a lot of time to spend with one person - for Justin and all kids who make the club a frequent home. Miramontes even gets the benefits of having his own three children, ages 7, 10 and 14, at the club each afternoon, open 2:30 to 6 p.m. weekdays and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday. ``I try not to be just a program director,'' Miramontes said. ``I try to be more of a friend - you joke with them, you kid with them. ``I've seen other people who work with the kids, and if they don't have that buddy kind of thing, they (kids) shy away more.'' Boys & Girls Clubs locally operate at five sites: Hammack Activity Center, Desert View School in Lancaster, the Acton Community Center, Lake Los Angeles School The Los Angeles School of Urbanism is an academic movement emerged during the mid-1980s, loosely based at the University of Southern California and UCLA, that poses a challenge to the dominant Chicago School of Urbanism. and at Yucca School in Palmdale, which is temporarily closed. Between them, 200 to 700 kids between the ages of 7 and 17 are served daily. The most well-used facility would have to be the Lake Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. club. There are not a lot of other options in the area - especially free ones - for the youngsters, he said. ``We opened the doors, and they came running in,'' Duke noted. The Hammack Activity Center has four computers in addition to table games. The computers are also about to gain Internet access See how to access the Internet. . Other games and crafts are organized from time to time, and volunteers to help with their time or supplies would be greatly appreciated, Duke said. Membership is $5 a year, but even that is waived for those who can't afford it. The purpose is to let the kids feel they belong, Duke said. ``It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. what it does just for kids to have a place to go and stay out of trouble. When programs like this are in place, your truancy goes down, gang trouble goes down and teen pregnancy goes down,'' he noted. Duke clearly remembers an example of why the club can make such a difference. There was a tall young African-American, about 17 years old, helping a white boy, barely 7, learn to play Ping-Pong. ``How can that 7-year-old have an attitude toward a group of people or race - he (the 17-year-old) is his hero,'' Duke said. ``He taught him to play Ping-Pong.'' As a child, Miramontes grew up in East Los Angeles East Los Angeles, uninc. city (1990 pop. 126,379), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles, in an industrial area. It has a large Mexican-American population. There is a performing arts center and a cultural center. A junior college is there. at a place like the Boys & Girls Club called Teen Post. ``It was a place to keep us off the streets. . . . That's where I get all my knowledge for (working with) the kids,'' he said. For years, Miramontes, 43, was a carpenter by trade, but when the opportunity to be program director of the new Boys & Girls Club in Palmdale came along in 1992, he jumped at the chance. ``I've always liked working with kids,'' he said. ``Even when I was younger, I watched my aunt's kids - I just enjoy it.'' A lot of the youths face challenges early in life, he went on. ``Sometimes it's hard 'cause you see what goes on out there, in the homes. You can tell from one day to the next something's bothering them.'' ``You can really tell they're looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. something,'' he said of the kids who join. For 4-1/2 years now, Miramontes has watched over the children at the Palmdale facility. For many of these kids, he sees himself as a second parent. ``These kids come here small. . . . It's an enjoyment watching them grow up.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (Ran in SAC Sac: see Sac and Fox. SAC - 1. An early system on the Datatron 200 series. [Listed in CACM 2(5):16 (May 1959)]. and AV--color in AV only) Joe Miramontes is program director of the Antelope Valley Boys & Girls Club and a father figure to many of its young members. Jeff Goldwater/Daily News |
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