By Alex Tucciarone, Salesian Old Boy –
(Los Angeles, California) – The Salesian Old Boys, aka SOB’s, was established in 2007 in memory of one of the group’s founding members, Brother Gene Mylan, who passed away in 2007 from brain cancer. Gene was an inspiration to us as a committed Salesian dedicated to youth.
In true Salesian spirit, Gene worked to co-host the Bellflower reunion, establishing a format in creating a close tie with former Salesians, including aspirants from the West, East, Canada, and Salesians, to form the “SOB” group. The primary purpose of the group is to continue Don Bosco’s work with high-risk kids through collaborating with the Salesians on various social projects through professional and financial support.
The group consists of approximately 300 members participating through a Facebook Group, a private email google group, yearly reunions, and help with mini reunions in different locations.
The SOB projects range from supporting mental health youth programs at the Don Bosco Youth Leadership Center for at-risk youth in Montreal, Canada, a training program for staffing at the Salesian Boys and Girls Club in Richmond, California, the Salesian Oratory in Port Chester, New York, funding for a summer camp program for the Boys and Girls Club in East Boston, Massachusetts, in addition to funding homeless starter baskets for a Franciscan Outreach program in Chicago, Illinois.
The SOB initiatives evolved into creating a positive funding source for incubator programing for Salesian Programs, with the intention of developing startup funds to expand either existing or new programs.
The initial funding developed and expanded a youth kitchen and safe house for soldier children in Nigeria. The program later included female students taken by Boko Haram. This ongoing program demonstrated the dedication of Fr. John Thompson in a high-risk area and the spiritual, moral, and financial support of the SOB’s.
The SOBs acted as seed money funders, through Fr. John, to provide support funding to build a convent for the Salesian Sisters in Lesotho, Africa. The nuns serve high-risk, developmentally disabled children in a high-poverty African country. Without the Salesian Sisters, the children would probably be left to die. The convent is completed and occupied. The orphanage and nuns are doing extremely well.
In addition to Africa, the SOB’s supported building a bakery in Haiti, and despite the turmoil, it is operational and successful. South America has also been a beneficiary of the fund with developing and operating a mini vegetable farm in Ecuador with Fr. Dennis O’Brien, a water treatment plant in El Salvador arranged by Fr. Bob Flickinger, and pigs for a Salesian priest/nun program for youth in Sri Lanka, both for food and creating a mini farming operation.
In the past several years, the SOBs have provided seed funding for several programs for the Salesian Boys and Girls Club in East Los Angeles. The two signature programs involved developing a computer lab for club members and the local community and a computer educational class for homeless veterans. The lab obtained additional education/equipment grants through the initial funding from the SOBs.
With seed funding from the SOBs, the Club was able to obtain video equipment and an additional major grant to create educational videos for job training in construction. The program is aimed at homeless veterans and local youth. The educational program is operational, and the video equipment will be used for developing Salesian Training Videos.
In 2024, the SOBs selected Camp Saint Francis in Los Aptos, California, to initially fund the remodeling of three shower rooms/bathroom facilities. Then started and, once completed, the project will provide updated facilities for the camp.
The ongoing SOB financial/professional commitment to Salesian youth work has exceeded $125,000 in seed money contributions and an additional $600,000 in capital funding through grants or additional donations.
In our ongoing commitment to Don Bosco’s Youth Mission, the Salesian Old Boys encourage Salesians, former Salesians, and aspirants to join our group. Our primary purpose is the youth’s safety.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/42049188697/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT
Email group: Go to https://support.google.com/groups/answer/1067205?hl=en and follow the instructions. The name of the group is “SalesianOldBoys.”
