Its national marketing campaign leads one to believe that the Boys and Girls Club is aimed at keeping inner-city kids off the mean streets of urban America.
So what’s a nice, suburban Bainbridge kid doing in a program like that? Kids come in all stripes, but their needs are consistent:
“They need a safe, supervised place to go wherever they live. They need activities to keep them occupied, where they feel welcome. That’s no different in an urban, suburban or rural setting.”
So says Mark Gurtler, executive director of the Bainbridge Island Boys & Girls Club, which last week wrapped up years of nomadic life with a real clubhouse of its own.
And this club, which opened this month on the north side of the new aquatic center, has a view.
“I just saw a guy do a triple flip,” said Ty MacVane, a second grader who comes to the clubhouse nearly every day because “it’s cool.”
So far this school year, 164 fifth- and sixth-grade students have signed up, well above the enrollment at the same time last year. In addition, 25 kids in kindergarten through fourth grade became members.
One of the most significant benefits to having a home, Gurtler said, is to be able to serve a whole new group of island kids.
“We’ve never had a space where we had control of the hours and programming,” he said. “So now we can serve teens. We have to overcome the image of serving only younger kids, but I hope that comes with looking at this building.”
A team coordinator has been hired to launch the program for middle and high school kids. Part of serving that population will mean an expansion of hours reserved just for older kids – 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays and 6:30 to midnight Fridays just for teens. The club is currently open 2-6:30 p.m. for kindergarten through sixth grade.
The goal is to grow to 450 members this year, with new visibility that comes with the clubhouse.
“We’ve been invisible,” Gurtler said. “My office was buried in Commodore, and our programs were at Bethany Lutheran and Sakai, so it was difficult to get any visibility.
“People thought our program at Sakai was a Sakai program. They didn’t know it was Boys & Girls Club.”
Visibility is improving, in more ways than one. Large glass windows line each side of the clubhouse, one side looking into the constant activity of the new pool.
But there’s plenty of activity within the 2,700-square feet between those windows to keep boys and girls busy.
A pool table, two foosball tables and a ping-pong table occupy the center of the room.
Other amenities include a lunch table, and shelves full of board games and craft supplies. A small, separate room soon will become a computer lab, complete with six donated computers, networked into a server in Gurtler’s office.
What’s needed are more tables and chairs, and the signage and canopy marking the building.
The Boys & Girls Club of America is not necessarily aimed at inner-city youth, said Gurtler, who came to Bainbridge after directing a Bellevue club, another community known for its affluence.
It is, he said, about the fact that millions of kids are at home without adult care or supervision, and are left to their own devices when it comes to finding recreation and company.
The club is not to be confused with daycare, although the distinction can be tough to articulate. It’s a club, as in a place kids want to be, and not a place kids have to be.
They are not walked to classes or lessons, or chased down if they don’t show up; they aren’t “babysat,” and their presence is by choice.
For the $20 annual membership dues, kids in kindergarten through fourth grade can be dropped of for free between 2 and 6:30 p.m. The club charges a fee on “no school” and early dismissal days.
Programs so far have primarily concentrated on recreation. There also is a “power hour” during which kids can do homework, and get help if they want it. Arts and crafts activities are available, and field trips to places such as the opera, Bloedel Reserve, parks and Gameworks were popular last summer.
“This is the culmination of a dream,” board president David Nelson said. “It was sort of a fluke.”
The building happened through a series of unrelated events.
Gurtler contacted Park District Director Dave Lewis about using a building at Battle Point to house the club.
That was ruled out because of location, but Lewis raised the possibility of the new pool, where a planned room had been eliminated due to budget constraints.
“He said if you can raise the money, build it,” Gurtler said.
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Several Connecticut women founded the Boys Club in 1860 as a positive alternative for youngsters who roamed the streets. The word “Girls” was added in 1990.
The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs is to promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of “competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.”
The Bainbridge Island chapter of is governed by a 12-member volunteer board, presided over by Bainbridge High School graduate David Nelson. The paid full-time staff includes Executive Director Mark Gurtler and Program Coordinator Kati Novak. Part-time paid staff includes Michelle Sandri, team coordinator in charge of middle- and high school programs, and Sakai Program Coordinator Dagmar Stauss-Goff.
The club relies on volunteers for everything from managing fund-raisers to offering specific activities such as soccer and lacrosse. They also serve as chaperones for field trips.
The club began offering year-round programs four years ago, funded primarily through private donations and user fees. A third of the funding comes from Bainbridge Foundation, United Way and Health and Human Services.
Fund-raisers include the annual Pumpkin Walk, Oct. 25 and 26 this year at Bainbridge Gardens, and an auction planned for a Seattle location in Seattle Nov. 9. It costs about $225,000 to operate the club for one year. The clubhouse effort prompted a $500,000 capital campaign, $350,000 of which has been raised, including a $125,000 donation from Bainbridge Rotary.
To donate or volunteer, call 855-8486.
