(Photo by Don Kadair)
Along with mentoring an 8-year-old boy through Boys & Girls Club of Greater Baton Rouge, Joseph Cefalu has created a young professionals networking group to increase participation in the club among his peers.
Cefalu, an attorney with Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, says he tries to make it to University Terrace Elementary School in the afternoons whenever he can to help the boy with his homework. The pair talk about school—what the child is struggling with and what he enjoys.
“It’s hands on where you’re seeing the effect you can have, rather than just making a financial contribution,” Cefalu says.
After homework comes playtime. “We are playing basketball, but talking about life,” Cefalu says. “He gets a different aspect from another adult role model that he might not otherwise have access to.”
Cefalu has been a mentor to several children since 2013. He became involved in Boys & Girls Club through work after two of his firm’s board members invited him to a Steak & Stake Dinner, a large fundraising event held annually where corporate donors and sponsors enjoy a steak dinner while sharing the table with club members.
Cefalu says he left the event knowing he wanted to get involved in some way. He served on the committee for the fundraiser the following year. “They’re such kind-hearted kids,” Cefalu says. “They deserve to have that attention on them.”
A little more than a year ago, Cefalu co-founded a young professionals networking group called Club Blue to help generate greater interest in the Boys & Girls Club among young professionals.
Club Blue held three or four networking events last year to drum up support for upcoming events, Cefalu says. After a meeting where the Summer Read-Aloud program was discussed, a record number of volunteers signed up to read to club members.
Cefalu says he realizes young professionals are quite busy in their jobs. “With Boys & Girls Club, it really isn’t a huge time commitment,” he says. The Summer Read-Aloud program requires a one-time commitment to drive to a site and read a book to a group of children, he says. The minimum commitment is one hour per month.
“That’s nothing in the grand scheme of things,” Cefalu says. “What you put in, you get back so much more.”
For more information about Boys & Girls Club, contact Onya Carter, director of volunteer services, at (225) 383-3928, or onya@brclubs.org.
—Emily Kern Hebert
