ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester is celebrating 50 years of serving children and their families in 2021.

Dwayne Mahoney, the Executive Director for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Rochester, discussed the anniversary Wednesday during News 8 at Sunrise.

“It’s been fifty years of service to the community and we’re highlighting the alumni who have, since 1971, have been involved with the Club,” said Mahoney. “There are so many people around Rochester who have had experience with the Boys and Girls Club that are doing phenomenal work in this community – some famous, some just regular people who feel like the Club had a big impact on their lives.”

That community impact dates back to the Club’s founding in 1971. “Gil McCurdy, for those who remember McCurdy’s Department Store, was a founder of the Boys and Girls Club,” noted Mahoney. “We wouldn’t have this opportunity to serve the community had it not been for Gil and so we’re reaching out to alumni, many of whom we don’t even know who were Club members. We’re sharing pictures every week and we have people who are producing stories on alumni throughout the year. We’ll have some receptions and some things to highlight. We also want to point out our sponsor this year for the 50th anniversary is the Harris Beach Law Firm, and we want to thank the people at Harris Beach. Just having a celebration of how long the organization has been in service.”

As part of the anniversary celebration, the Par-Tee For the Kids golf tournament will be held this August at Locust Hill Country Club. To register for the tournament and learn more about the 50th-anniversary celebration visit bgcrochester.org.

For Mahoney, celebrating the Club’s success over 50 years is all about the individual impact felt by members. “We just had a recent example of it – and that is, we had a young man in his early thirties who just finished his Social Work degree. He’s worked in the community for a long time, but he had sent us a picture of the new Boys and Girls Club building and just listed a number of things that happened for him since he was a kid in that building all the way until now – even some of our staff going to court and helping him get custody of his son – all kinds of things like that. He pointed to those highlights and said that this weekend he had received his Social Work degree. So it’s things like that where you don’t even know you’re helping people in a way that’s really an impactful thing. We’ve done that for so many people, our staff have, and I think just sharing those all throughout this year is going to be very special for us.”