Thunderbirds Charities awarded $150,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley (BGCAZ) to fund their “Bridging the Digital Divide” project. BGCAZ will use the money to upgrade the technology at 24+ Clubs throughout the Valley. BGCAZ’s technology and infrastructure team will use these funds to upgrade campus-wide Wi-Fi, update routers and firewalls for increased speed and Internet security.

Congratulations to Jerry Colangelo Branch member, Angel D., for winning the Best Young Filmmaker:  A Short Film by Angel at the Chandler Film Festival. A few months ago the organization reached out to the Clubs to create a short film for this year’s Chandler Film Festival. Angel, a teen member at the Jerry Colangelo Club and from the Phoenix area, is a part of our C2C program with Clubhouse Network and a member of the Fresh Films program.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley is thrilled to announce this talented teen and our 2021 Youth of the Year. Vakentae competes next at the Arizona Boys & Girls Clubs State Youth of the Year competition in March. On Friday night, Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals announced Vakentae’e win.

Boys & Girls Clubs of the Valley (BGCAZ) has presented its fourth annual Renee Parsons Girls Leadership Award. Driven by businesswoman and philanthropist, Renee Parsons, the award honors girls who have demonstrated three fundamental leadership qualities – collaboration, assertiveness and empathy – and awards the recipient up to $80,000 of scholarship funding over four years and a new laptop.