THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 11, 1996 TAG: 9607110378
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 60 lines
The embattled Campostella Boys & Girls Club in Norfolk, lurching along financially from season to season, will get help Friday from the Christian Broadcasting Network.
CBN will pass the collection plate at a gospel concert at the Virginia Beach network headquarters, with a tithe - a tenth of the money contributed - going to the club, said Danene L. Washington, director of CBN Ministry Events.
``We're excited about even being able to participate and being a blessing in some way,'' Washington said.
CBN organizers have put together a summer concert series aimed at drawing together the community and benefiting some area activities for youth.
They had lined up beneficiaries for later concerts - a Virginia Beach center for unwed pregnant and otherwise troubled teens, a Hampton program teaching film and video skills to children deemed at risk of school failure or getting into trouble and a Norfolk effort to send poor children to summer camp in Minnesota - but needed a beneficiary for its first show Friday: ``CBN's Gospel Sing,'' featuring five acts.
The organizers last month read a Virginian-Pilot profile of the financially troubled Campostella Boys & Girls Club and its director, Byron C. Joyce Sr. A former drug addict and convict, Joyce now leads Christian anti-drug ministries and works to save the Berkeley community's youth from dead-end lives on the streets.
The CBN staff decided to help Joyce's club.
Washington invited Joyce to bring along some of the club's members and address the audience Friday.
``We know that people are moved when they see the faces of kids,'' she said.
The $5 admission fee and the remainder of the donations are expected to just cover the costs of the shows, which aren't planned as money-makers, Washington said. They will be held in the circus-size, blue-and-white tent at CBN's Virginia Beach campus off Indian River Road near Interstate 64.
Since news of Joyce's club's struggles came out last month, its membership jumped a third, with 86 new children joining. People have called and written to help, and a few sent checks, from $25 to $200.
``We're going to use that to buy balls and games and things like that, that we didn't have,'' Joyce said.
Joyce called CBN's offer ``wonderful.'' Already, the Campostella Boys & Girls Club had been able to hire a summer staff. Now it is also considering hiring a teen from the neighborhood, and a woman to help plan programs and raise funds to help ensure its continued survival.
``Slowly but surely, we're coming together,'' Joyce said.
Washington said: ``When we went to talk with him, I had to say I was just really impressed with his vision.''
``I think it makes a statement. Here's someone who's willing - not just to say, `Let's do something' - he gave up a good-paying job. . . . He's a faith walker, not just a faith talker.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
VICKI CRONIS/The Virginian-Pilot
Older members of the Campostella Boys & Girls Club engage in an
impromptu dance in the hallway of the club. The portrait of Martin
Luther King Jr. hangs in the building along with those of other
leaders. by CNB