Building Great Futures Since 1944

Eighty feels Great-y!

Since our humble beginnings in 1944, more than 130,000 children have passed through the Blue Doors of a Central Florida Boys & Girls Club.

Please forgive us if we brag just a little, because our list of alumni includes some incredibly accomplished people! Consider Jerry Demings, who attended our Carver Shores Club as a youth, and went on to become the first Black Chief of Police in Orlando, and the first Black Sheriff and Mayor of Orange County. Then there’s David (Bumpy) Hughes, an alum of our Downtown Club who would become the CEO of one of the nation’s largest building supplies companies.

But we’re equally proud of Ciara Banks-Mapps, an East Altamonte alumna and first generation college grad who is now an Orange County school teacher. And of Ruford Shepherd from our Eatonville Branch, who heads up his own thriving landscaping business.

We hope you’ll enjoy this sampling of Boys & Girls Clubs alumni – 80, of course! – who are connected to Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. Not all attended Clubs in Central Florida—some come from other areas of the state or country—but all shine bright in our constellation of supporters who proudly claim that “My Great Future Started at Boys & Girls Clubs.”