Published: February 22, 2009 08:15 pm      

B&G Club celebrates 20 years

DANVILLE — “In every community, boys and girls are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets. An increasing number of children are at home with no adult care or supervision. Young people need to know that someone cares about them.”

That’s what the Boys & Girls Clubs of America offer and more.

And in Danville, that neighborhood-based facility has grown emphatically from a small apartment in Fair Oaks 20 years ago to a 22,000-square-foot building at Garfield Park in 2003 that today includes a technology center, study, arts and crafts room, teen lounge, snack area and gymnasium.

The club’s 20 years and those who helped start the club will be recognized at the We Are Family Brunch/20th Anniversary Celebration at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at the club.

Former state Sen. Judy Myers, founding board president for the club, recalls how a group of community members — including herself, former alderman and city treasurer Les Brown, Vermilion County Sheriff Pat Hartshorn and businessman Lou Mervis — explored how the city could better serve children on the city’s east side.

Brown, a founding board member, said a needs assessment showed there were not a lot of recreational activities and programs for children who lived at Fair Oaks and other eastside residences.

“They had the municipal pool,” Brown said.

There was a great need for a year-round facility where children could go when they weren’t in school, he said.

Around that time, Brown said there also was a national effort by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America to locate clubs around public housing.

Danville Housing Authority officials started inquiring with the BCA in 1988 after hearing about BCA programs in public housing projects.

DHA officials and the community leaders decided that starting a local Boys & Girls Club would be the best way to meet these young people’s needs.

Myers said they talked with Boys & Girls Club of Champaign officials.

“The club was already in place (there) with programs that we liked…,” she said.

Brown said Champaign’s club acted as a sponsor for the Danville club.

The Boys & Girls Club of Danville was incorporated on Sept. 18, 1989.

The DHA provided the club a two-bedroom apartment and access to the community room at Fair Oaks, as well as utilities at no charge.

Brown said they initially used athletics and basketball as a hook to attract children to the club and then would push more educational components, such as tutoring and reading.

“It was a natural marriage,” he said of initially working with the DHA.

The two-bedroom apartment offered office space, and the club was awarded a $25,000 grant to get started, he said.

“We got off to a rapid start. We never had a shortage of kids,” Brown said.

In the early 1990s, the club relocated to its second home at Mount Zion Baptist Church (formerly Edgewood Baptist, across from Fair Oaks) so that it could serve more youth.

While there, membership more than doubled and programs were expanded.

“That building was just packed with kids,” Myers recalls. “Kids were standing, waiting to come in.”

The summer lunch program was very popular, and many children could walk to the club. The club remained an important, safe place for children who didn’t have anywhere else to go, she said.

“It made us feel good to do that,” Myers said.

New building

By 1998, the club was once again bursting at the seams. Maintenance issues and scheduling conflicts with church events also were problematic.

A committee was formed to explore having a more modern and centrally-located building.

The board decided that constructing a new building was the best choice. In 2001, the club entered into a 25-year agreement with the city to lease land at Garfield Park for $1 a year.

More than $2 million was raised for the new building. A groundbreaking ceremony was held in the spring of 2002.

Today, the club has served thousands of youth. It serves about 150 children a day and has more than 200 members and a waiting list.

“I would have to say (I’m most proud of) the community support; and (the public) saw a great need for the Boys & Girls Club in the community,” Brown said.

The public helped with fundraising, and “it was a good collaborative effort with the city providing space at the park,” Brown said.

“It’s really come along,” he added. “Kids are really hopping around and enjoying what they provide (at the club).”

“I don’t think we’re going to run out of kids. We’ll always need a place for the kids to go in that area of town,” Brown added. “I’d love to see the community to continue to support it.”

Six-year board member Darlene Halloran, who is education liaison at Mervis Industries and previously worked for school District 118, hasn’t been involved with the club for its 20 years, but she’s seen first hand how the club is making a difference in children’s lives.

“It’s such a great avenue for kids. It says a lot for our community,” she said.

Halloran said children having trouble in school have the club to help them grow and learn.

With her community contacts, she’s assisted in bringing the Danville Dans baseball camp to the club, and is proud of the stronger bond with the school district.

Danville School District 118 has partnered with the club to provide transportation from all District 118 schools to the club each day. Parents/guardians are responsible for picking up their children.

“I’m most proud of our dedicated staff,” Halloran said of executive director Rickey Williams Jr. and other staff members.

She said her early years on the board were “a roller coaster” with different executive directors.

Myers echoed Halloran’s thoughts, saying she’s proud too of Williams and today’s club staff, other’s leadership and those who were involved in the beginning with the club.

She said the little glimmer 20 years ago of what started with the club has expanded into a wonderful club that’s beneficial to the entire community.

“It’s just thrilling to see what has evolved. Our hearts are still with the Boys & Girls Club,” Myers said of her family.