Published: September 07, 2009 09:33 am      

Local exec for Boys, Girls club gets regional award

From the Canadian border to the Mexican border obviously covers a lot of territory — and that’s some of the territory covered in the Southwest Region of the Boys & Girls Club of America.

States included in the region are Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma.

That’s why some local residents consider it all the more impressive that McAlester Boys & Girls Club Director Lynn Edwards has been selected as the Southwest Region’s Director of the Year.

Edwards learned he had won the major award during the awards ceremony held in San Antonio, Texas, on Aug. 13.

The region includes 219 Boys & Girls Club organizations, with 714 individual clubs. Winners are chosen by the national staff of the Boys & Girls Club of America.

Since Edwards has now won the state and regional titles, he advances to the national competition, set to be held in New York City early in 2010.

Edwards said he’s honored to win first the state award and now the Southwest Region award. The awards are a reflection on the Boys & Girls Clubs of McAlester, he said.

“The process was started, unbeknownst to me, by some of our board members,” Edwards said.

The Boys & Girls Club of McAlester now has nearly 2,000 members, he said.

A couple of board members said that the award is well-deserved.

“It’s a very special award for Lynn,” said McAlester Boys & Girls Club Board President Orlean Smith.

“It’s also recognizing the Boys & Girls Club of McAlester and what we’ve accomplished as a club,” Smith said.

“We obviously couldn’t have done it without his leadership, but it’s also a very special award for the McAlester Boys & Girls Club.”

Smith said when he first came on the board about five or six years ago, from 50 to 60 young people participated in the club’s after-school program.

Today, from 120 to 130 typically participate, he said.

“That proves we are doing something special for the kids,” he said.

“It’s very special for Lynn to have won that,” he said.

Board member Greg Brown, who is a past president of the local club as well as a past president of the organization’s Oklahoma Area Council, also expressed enthusiasm.

“That’s a great thing for Oklahoma and for the McAlester Boys Girls Club,” Brown said.

“He’s done a lot of different things,” Brown said of Edwards.

“He’s done a lot of good things with the staff and a lot of the ideas and programs we’ve been able to implement is an area where the Boys & Girls Club is moving in,” he said.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.