Boys & Girls Club of Venice helps teen get ready to take on world
She still has the letters. The ones Dad sent from “camp,” the federal kind with armed counselors and orange jumpsuits. The same dad that had her too young, fought for custody in court and then went away for five years.
Kimberly Woodruff, 17, still doesn’t know why he left, only that she wanted a regular family. She didn’t expect one to come from the Boys & Girls Club of Venice.
“The club really opened my eyes and made me more independent,” Woodruff said. “I can do my own thing and venture off. I was able to learn about myself and I could be more of an individual.”
The club exuded an aura of stability, something Woodruff never felt at home. Her parents split when she was in preschool; then, after her father gained custody, her mother kidnapped Woodruff and her twin sister from day care and drove them to St. Louis. Nearly six months passed before a police officer knocked on the door and brought them back to Inglewood to live with their grandmother. And then Dad went off to “camp.”
Woodruff first came through the club’s doors as a quiet, withdrawn sixth-grader but soon began to make noise. Within a year, she was elected president of the Torch Club, a leadership and service program run by 11-, 12- and 13-year-old members. Two years later, she became the club’s youngest staff member, serving as a mentor in what was her first job. That’s where she’s spending her summer, having just graduated from Culver City High School.
“She represents the club. For us, what she’s accomplished is phenomenal because I do remember her coming in very shy and timid,” associate executive director Armando Diaz said. “She’s one of the kids that really took advantage of everything here at the club. The thing that she really gained here was confidence.”
Woodruff further blossomed as a sophomore at Culver City High when she founded Girls PACT (Prevention Against Childbearing Teens) to empower teenage girls at the club. The program became so popular that she had to change the name to Power, Advocate, Choice and Triumph to accommodate coed sessions.
“We just want a place where teens can come to talk and learn about themselves and others. It’s really cool to give back to the community and it’s really humbling,” Woodruff said.
The program has made waves across the country, recently receiving a $10,000 grant from America’s Promise to further its goals year-round rather than in a 10-week session. Woodruff draws motivation from the fact that her mother -- with whom she reconnected over Facebook last year -- could have benefited from the program, which she still leads full time.
“I’m busy, but it’s all fun for me,” Woodruff said. “It’s not like a job. I am believing in me more. It’s gratifying and humbling at the same time.”
This fall, Woodruff has a scholarship to attend Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island, majoring in accounting and child development. Without the Boys & Girls Club, she says, she never would have been able to find the courage or self-confidence to venture 3,000 miles away for the opportunity.
Her father is back in her life now, but she has kept his letters. She can change the world, he told her. The Boys & Girls Club of Venice would say she already has.
The Summer Camp Campaign, part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a McCormick Foundation Fund, raises contributions to support programs that provide thousands of Southern California’s at-risk children ages 7 to 17 with enriching, educational and fun camp experiences.
Donations are tax-deductible as permitted by law and matched at 50 cents on the dollar. Donor information is not traded or published without permission. Donate online at latimes.com/donate or by calling (800) 518-3975. All gifts will receive a written acknowledgment.