Boys and Girls Club’s Marvin Laster tells Kiwanis he came home to make a difference

ALBANY — Since returning home to Albany in January, Boys and Girls Club of Albany’s (BGCA) Assistant Chief Professional Officer Marvin Laster has been a blur of activity, preaching the BGCA’s message all across Dougherty County.

Laster has been associated with BGCA for more than 30 years as a member and as an administrator. In 1994 the was the state Boys Club’s Youth of the year.

Monday afternoon it was was the Dougherty County Kiwanis Club’s turn to receive the message.

“There is no place like home and I didn’t come back home to make noise — I came back to make a difference,” Laster, pacing among the luncheon crowd, said. “All young people in this community, black or white, need the Boys and Girls Club.”

Laster said the BGCA touches the lives of 1,500 local members and more than 3,000 kids through its outreach programs.

“We are more than a ‘swim and gym’ organization,” he said. “We teach sportsmanship and fair play. We have a professionally-trained staff because the Boys and Girls club is a passion for us. We provide hope and opportunity to those kids who have none.”

If it sounds like Laster, who spent the last decade with the national organization in Atlanta, is asking for help, he is.

“My vision is I’d like to see Albany, Ga., build an ecosystem of the school system, corporations, business, government, faith-based and civic organizations help us build a support network for they children of this community,” Laster said. “We are trying very hard to bring all these different people and groups together. We want to help prepare our kids to graduate from high school, college, tech school, the military or careers.

“We want to empower our children to be citizens of high moral fiber.”

But he added he needs help from the community to make his vision a reality.

“We are looking to stand shoulder to shoulder with our schools and people like you to help us make a difference in the lives of children in Dougherty County,” said Laster.

After his decade in Atlanta, Laster has come full circle. Now he is tasked with giving others the same opportunities he took advantage of.

“I see this job as repaying a debt because the club saved me. I know I could have easily been a statistic,” Laster said. “The club helped me realize that I could be and do anything I wanted to. I know the challenges this community is facing and I know the Boys and Girls Club, in partnership with other local organizations can build that ecosystem for all young people in Albany to be all that they can be.”