State Labor Commissioner Speaks at Boys & Girls Club Dinner

By Charlie Bauder, WNEG Radio, Toccoa, GA

State Labor Commissioner Mark Butler says it is important for a community to engage its children to ensure a bright future.

Butler delivered that message as the keynote speaker this week in Toccoa at the 21st annual Toccoa-Stephens County Boys’ And Girls’ Club benefit dinner at the Georgia Baptist Conference Center.

During his speech, Butler thanked those businesses and individuals who support children through programs such as the Boys’ and Girls’ Club and make a difference in both the life of a child and in the greater community.

“These programs are preparing a lot of our young people that may not have some support systems at home sometimes, to teach them the things they need to know, different kind of social skills, soft skills that they need to have so they can be successful in the job market,” said Butler.

Butler says by helping children succeed in school and life at an early age, they go on to help make a community’s workforce stronger.

“We can have great incentives out there and great locations, like industrial parks, but what the companies talk to us about is that they want to make sure that they have people in those communities that have the skills they need, that can do the jobs they have,” said Butler. “More importantly, that those people have the soft skills they pick up at places like the Boys’ and Girls’ Club.”

After his speech, Boy’s And Girls’ Club Director Cindy Arnold said it was great to receive that kind of support from a state official.

“For him to say this is where it starts, preparing our children, making sure they come up with the right values and education, and (talk) about how it spirals upward and affects us positively, I think it was so on point.”

Arnold said the response for this year’s dinner from the community was better than expected.