Logan L. was just five-years-old when he found himself in the foster system. Having already moved from Fallon to Oklahoma to Yerington, he now found himself in yet another new place with his older brother and younger sister. Any and all of his stability had been taken away.
Fortunately for Logan, it was just a couple of months before his aunt brought he and his siblings in, going on to adopt them several years later. Everything changed again, this time for the better, the day his aunt signed them up for the Club.
“When I was younger growing up, I was so attached to my mom,” Logan said. “The Club was a great distraction from all that stuff. One of the first things that I learned in life was adaptability.
His local Boys & Girls Club in Yerington immediately became his second home. There, he found friendship, food and fun. Through the programming the Club had to offer, the second thing Logan learned was responsibility. As his adventure continued, that responsibility grew from just himself to all of those around him.
“I love helping people.”
That drive to be there for others is what led Logan to his teen center’s Keystone Club almost immediately after being old enough.
“I learned about the impact that Keystone has on my community, and how the Club can teach me about essential life skills and opportunities.”
The first big thing Logan got to do was work at the Club’s biggest fundraising event of the year, the Night in the Country Music Festival. Night in the Country is a three-night country music festival raising funds for Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley. There, he helped prep and clean the campgrounds, the Toyota Main Stage area and VIP tents from start to finish. As part of the Club’s Give and Get program, Logan and his fellow Keystone Club members earned money for their time to fundraise for a trip to Chicago and the National Keystone Club conference.
Since then, Logan has moved up through his Keystone rolls and the teen center itself, becoming the Keystone Club President and earning a job at the Club’s Yerington Movie House, a real-life workforce development lab where teens can get job experience while raising money for their Pennington Teen Center.
“The Chicago trip was the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Logan said. “We came back with new ideas for events we could run, programs we could do. I came back with a lot of new friends, too.”
Logan will compete against his fellow teens as a Youth of the Year Candidate this year. You can hear more of Logan’s story at the 2026 Youth of the Year Banquet, held February 21 at Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley’s Yerington Clubhouse.
