For Alan Gates, Boys and Girls Haven Board membership is an act of love. He first came to Boys Haven in 1971 as a frightened 13-year-old, the product of an alcoholic, broken family. He left as a confident, proud young adult with a strong work ethic and a desire to help others.

“When I came here, I thought I’d moved to a country club,” Mr. Gates says. “They made a place for you here. You knew you were wanted. There was a gymnasium, people taking you somewhere, a color TV, a pool table, a ping pong table, an auto mechanics shop and a wood shop.”

But he says the best thing by far was its founder, Father James Maloney. “Everybody knew he loved you,” says Mr. Gates, who earned the title of “Mr. Boys Haven 1975” while here and later returned to Boys’ Haven, this time working for Father Maloney as a youth counselor for two years.

Today, Mr. Gates is the Director of Fabrication for Stanley Schultze & Co., Inc., a commercial glass company. Before that, he was a self-employed residential trim carpenter. He graduated from St. X High School and attended Western Kentucky University. He volunteers at the Louisville Zoo through the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and for the St. X Alumni Association. He is a former member of the Louisville Jaycees Board of Directors.

As a Boys and Girls Haven trustee, Mr. Gates is eager to renew his commitment to Boys and Girls Haven “I plan to give the time that’s necessary to make a difference. If you make a difference in one kid’s life, you’re a success.”