THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996            TAG: 9610080158
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS         PAGE: 06   EDITION: FINAL 
COLUMN: GUEST COLUMN 
TYPE: Opinion 
SOURCE: BY JOHN L. HORTON 
                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

IT'S UP TO US TO KEEP CLUB FOR KIDS GOING

If it takes a whole village to save a child, then what happened recently to the Campostella Boys and Girls Club should deeply concern us all. The Campostella Boys and Girls Club almost lost its funding and had to close. What a shame that would have been for all of us.

While working in this particular community to empower these same children, I have seen too many shattered dreams, broken promises and failed pursuits. Too many of these children sincerely believe that they have no positive place or productive future in our society. Right or wrong, they feel that they have been left out and are our society's ``scapegoats.''

Too many of them genuinely believe that a ``conspiracy of racism and discrimination'' actively works against them. In effect, too many of them don't believe in the system, and therefore, they don't try hard enough to overcome and be successful in life.

The Campostella Boys and Girls Club, of which I am profoundly familiar, is a beacon of hope and inspiration for these children. It provides them with motivation, inspiration, training and guidance. It provides them with love, support and supervision. It provides them with mentoring, tutoring and parenting. It helps to make them whole, healthy and optimistic. The Campostella Boys and Girls Club is an oasis of possibility and potentiality. It helps to grow, nurture and develop the children. Too often, it is their only life support in a sea of obstacles and barriers. What a shame and waste it would be for all of us to lose such a place.

If all of us were to decide to do the right thing, we, together, could save (and continue) the Campostella Boys and Girls Club. They would not have to face a survival crisis every few months. The club is too important to us all for it to have to endure such periods of endangerment to its existence.

I offer the following plan/solution for its continued operation and existence, to include eventually a new facility and resources.

First, let us all, inside and outside the community, initiate an operating fund for the present club, and later, a building fund for a new facility. It can be done, together.

Second, everyone - NRHA, city government, corporate Hampton Roads, private organizations, public organizations, philanthropic agencies, sororities, fraternities, churches, benevolent and altruistic groups, private individuals, the Campostella-Berkley community, and the like - should be asked and expected to contribute, especially in a financial manner. For, it will take money to operate now and build for the future. These children are worth the effort and cost. It can be done, together.

If we truly believe that it takes a whole village to raise a child then this is our chance to prove it, for our children and for ourselves. In the final analysis, these are our children. Like it or not, we are all in this together. We and our children, together, are responsible for the final outcome. I say let's get to it. Let's get the job done! Together, we can do it! MEMO: John L. Horton lives on Camellia Road in Norfolk. by CNB