Author: Sarah Durham

The Vancouver Housing Authority and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southwest Washington have agreed to share the cost of the new clubhouse, envisioned as 13,000 square feet near the entrance to the development, at Council Bluffs Way and Wichita Drive, just off Andresen Road. At a Jan. 23 meeting, VHA commissioners expect to approve spending $1.5 million on the clubhouse, contingent on the Boys & Girls Clubs organization raising everything else it needs to build and operate the new clubhouse. VHA would own the building outright and lease it back to the Boys & Girls Clubs for 30 years, with extensions possible, at the nominal price of $1 per year.

The clubhouse project is expected to cost approximately $3.25 million, according to a fact sheet provided by Boys & Girls Clubs executive director Elise Menashe. The estimated annual operating expenses are $310,000. Menashe said her organization has barely begun its new fundraising campaign for this project.

The club would serve not just young people at Skyline Crest but the surrounding neighborhood, too. Menashe said it would cater to as many as 1,000 students at three nearby elementary schools with largely low-income populations: Harney, King and Marshall.

“There are not any other affordable daily after-school programs for the kids in the area,” she said. “We don’t want them home alone after school. We want to give them something positive to do.”

Nicholas Jefferson was eight years old when he first walked through the doors of the Al Davies Boys and Girls Club, home of the Tacoma Boxing Club, just as Olympic and world champions – Leo Randolph, Sugar Ray Seales and Johnny Bumphus, to drop a few names – had as kids before him.

It’s an old story. Boy laces on gloves, boy falls in love.

“Man, you can get in a fight and not get in trouble?” he marveled. “Where do I sign up?” Read more. 

This year our Boys & Girls Club did something that was out of the ordinary — and discovered something extraordinary as we found that giving is a gift itself!

This season, we gave out gifts to Club teens who put their academics first and participate in programs. There were some heartfelt moments when the teens were told they were being rewarded and could pick a present for themselves in the room full of gifts.

Instead of choosing things for themselves, some teens picked out items and asked for wrapping paper because they were going to give their gifts to someone else. There was even a Saints football helmet in the room and one member said, “My brother would LOVE that!” Instead of waiting for Dec. 25, he gave his brother the helmet as they were headed out the door and said “Merry Christmas, brother.” Read more. 

Heather Powell, the new CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Whatcom County, does not lack for energy or enthusiasm.

She rolled into Bellingham at 2 p.m. on Halloween after a drive of more than 2,000 miles from Wisconsin. At 4 p.m., she, husband Dan and 10-year-old daughter Gracia were joyfully trick-or-treating in Fairhaven.

“It was so much fun, absolutely wonderful, how many families were out and how great the people and business community in Fairhaven received them,” Heather said. “It was a great first day in Bellingham for all of us together.”

She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and grew up in Janesville, Wis., where she knew 2012 vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

Powell, 38, is a former elementary school teacher who served the previous three years as CEO of the Door County Boys and Girls Club in Sturgeon Bay, Wis.

Last summer, Dan Powell became CEO of the Whatcom Family YMCA. At the time, Heather did not know she would also become leader of a local human services organization. Read more. 

The vacant 2.5 acres south of the homes Habitat for Humanity Tri-Cities is building in east Kennewick represent an opportunity.

It’s where Rick Jansons, the nonprofit’s executive director, says Habitat plans to build more homes in the subdivision known as Garden Court, near South Jean Place and Fifth Avenue.

It’s also where Jansons and Brian Ace, executive director Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, hope to work together to offer a safe place to support children in the neighborhoods between Amistad Elementary School and Park Middle School.

The two are working with the city of Kennewick, which owns the land, to build six more Habitat homes and a Boys & Girls Clubs clubhouse. Read more.

Snohomish County’s branch of the Boys and Girls Club hopes to rebuild its Sultan facility, three years after it burned down on Christmas Eve. Staff have plans for a $2 million, 18,000 square-foot facility, funded mostly by government grants and insurance money. “It’ll be amazing,” said Marci Volmer from Boys and Girls Club, “The kids deserve it. The community deserves it. The staff deserves it.”

Since the fire, the club has still operated in Sultan by sharing space with Volunteers of America. VoA owns the land the new building would be built on as well. Plans for the new Boys and Girls Club facility include a gym, a game room and space for a variety of programs. Read more.