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      Patrick Wynn is the Chief Executive Officer of The Boys & Girls Club of North Alabama.  The areas the organization serves are Huntsville, Scottsboro, Decatur, Athens, Ardmore, and Pineville, AL.

     The mission of the organization is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those who need them the most, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens.  The organization’s code says, “I believe in God and the right to worship according to my own faith and religion.  I believe in America and the American way of life, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  I believe in fair play, honesty, and sportsmanship.  I believe in my Boys & Girls Club, which stands for these things.”

     Born and raised in Huntsville, AL, Patrick attended and graduated from Southern Mississippi University.  After college, he returned to Huntsville to provide leadership to the community that helped to raise him.  “I felt like I had a real tangible role model in my mom, Janice Fletcher.  She was a single parent, worked, went to college, and raised three kids.  I was able to avoid many of the pitfalls that many of my friends endured due to how she raised and provided for us,” he says. 

    Coming back to Huntsville is something that Patrick believes he was destined to do.  For 26 years, Patrick has worked with the Boys & Girls Club.  For the last 16 years, he has served as the organization’s CEO.  In his role, Patrick is charged with setting a vision and leading the organization.  He adds, “I am required to work with our Board of Directors to ensure that fiscal responsibility and policies and procedures are intact.  Ensuring safety and the quality of our program is one of my primary objectives.  One thing that I learned is that many people in our community are familiar with the name of the Boys and Girls Club, but many are not aware of the depth of our organization.  It is my goal to educate others about our depth and how vital we are to the communities that we serve.”

 More than anything, Kischa Howard is determined to keep the memory of her son, Khamron Dawson, alive.  In 2019, Khamron was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma Cancer, and in 2022, he died at the young age of 20.  Osteosarcoma Cancer is a bone cancer and is labeled as a childhood cancer.  Having to care for her son while he battled cancer was understandably a blow that Kischa hadn’t prepared for.  “I have faced many challenges in life.  To watch my baby boy go through the pain of cancer and die before my eyes has been by far the hardest thing I have ever experienced,” she says.

     During the time that Khamron battled cancer, the world was shut down due to COVID-19, and it made it difficult for Kischa to assist Khamron with care, mainly because he was deemed as an adult at age 18.  “I worked as a cosmetologist and a part-time life insurance agent.  Things were a little difficult for me, but with the love and support of her family and community, we made it work.  My family, friends, organizations, and cubs pulled together financial resources to allow me to stay with my son at M.D. Anderson hospital as he received his first chemotherapy treatment.  On Jan 2, 2022, Khamron passed away.  It was then that I decided to give back in the same way that others had given to our family.”