CLUB MEETINGS

Our club meets twice a month, on the second and fourth Wednesday, at the Chamber office at 6 PM.

6601 Beach Blvd
Buena Park, CA 90621

For more information contact
President Louise Mazerov,
714-826-4100x121


Our Purpose

We serve women in transition and girls 11-23 as well as the Buena Park community and our club members by unleashing the talent of members to help our external customers through programs such as SMART Girls, Miss Buena Park, Miss Teen, and the Christmas Shopping Spree, to help them achieve life skills so they can be successful, productive, contributing members of the community and drive our organization’s money-making model through annual fundraising, support of International’s programs and partnering with local service clubs and organizations working toward the same goals.


SOROPTIMIST INTERNATIONAL OF BUENA PARK
 

Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park

7758 Knott Avenue
Buena Park, CA 90620
714-522-7259
Boys & Girls Club is http://www.theplaceforkids.org/



Smart Girls’ Program at BP Boys & Girls Club Holds Graduation
by Loreen Berlin

The Soroptimists, in connection with the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park held the Annual “Smart Girls” Program Graduation at the Holiday Inn, Buena Park recently. Each week, Soroptimist International of Buena Park provides speakers on a different topic for teenage girls at the Club, to help the young women build strong minds and bodies. One of the guest speakers was Dr. Lorraine Urbina, D.C., Registered Trigenics® Physician, and Licensed Aesthetician from Los Alamitos. Urbina presents, “The Smart Girl’s Guide to Happiness.” The program includes high physiology, stress stopping strategies, focusing on the positive, and improving relationships in life. Urbina’s message is one of life skills, dealing with aggravation and problem solving – promoting “How to be happy as a teenager,” with a practical, but customized program of behavioral medicine. “As chairperson of Smart Girls for Soroptimist International of Buena Park, I thank Dr. Urbina, for an inspirational and innovative ‘Guide to Happiness’,” said Joyce Zurn, Smart Girls chair. “Dr. Urbina’s enthusiasm made a significant contribution to the lives of the young girls and we’re grateful for the experience she shared. Both the girls and the Soroptimists were uplifted by the program; it was an instrumental part of the positive ideals we’re working to instill.”

A prevention program targeting young women ages 12 to 17, “Smart Girls” was developed by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and local Soroptimists Club members have volunteered their time and financial support to the program in Buena Park. Todd Trout, program director for the Boys & Girls Club of Buena Park, said that the Smart Girls program is exactly what they were looking for, to reach the Club’s female members, and that they have confidence in the effectiveness of the program, since it is based on the award-winning “Smart Moves” program that the Club implemented years ago. Smart Girls provides gender and age-specific information to help young women develop necessary skills for a healthy life, with the curriculum teaching how to:
  • Develop positive lifetime nutritional habits specific to females.
  • Adopt healthy exercise habits including a range of physical and leisure activities
  • Understand and access health care delivery systems
  • Develop and enhance important role modeling relationships through involvement of adult female mentors.
Bruce Hird, executive chief officer of the Club said that from research and on-the-job experience, they know that the years between eight and 17 are critically important and represent the developmental cycle for young women that are served by the Club. Hird said the Club is pleased to have a program that improves relationships between young women and older significant women in their lives, establishing a positive relationship that can foster self-esteem and an empowering attitude. Smart Girls is supported by the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation and the Packard Foundation as part of the ongoing commitment to improve health and life skills of girls and young women. Zurn said that support for the Club’s programs comes from corporate gifts and sponsorships that are tax deductible and are acknowledged in the Soroptimists programs. “The Soroptimists are pleased to have such a project and hands-on communication with the young ladies,” said Zurn. The Boys & Girls Club is the only facility-based youth agency that provides after school programs to students in the city. More than 1,200 youth six to 18 utilize the Club’s services of education, arts, sports, recreation, leadership and character building activities monthly. The mission of the Club is to improve the quality of life in the city by developing community partnerships to help boys and girls achieve the confidence and skills necessary to become positive contributors to the community. Sponsors for the Smart Girls Graduation included: Holiday Inn, Knott's Berry Farm, and Buena Park Downtown. “This program could not have been as successful without the support of the sponsors such as Cola Corner, Holiday Inn, Knott's Berry Farm, Nutrilite, Papa Jons, Photos by Loreen, OC Media Pros, Staples, and Buena Park Downtown,” said Zurn.