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Highlands Today

Boys & Girls Club Launches 'Twenty Dollar Club'

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: April 1, 2009

SEBRING - Whether the Boys & Girls Club of Highlands County can keep its doors open past the first week of June depends on the success of its new fundraising campaign.

Current funding for the non-profit organization, which serves about 400 disadvantaged children with afterschool and summer programs in Sebring and Avon Park, will last only through the end of this school year, said Executive Director Wally Randall.

To keep its education and recreation programs alive, Randall this week launched the "Twenty Dollar Club."

The organization is asking people to donate $20 per year.

Randall said the goal is to raise $20,000 by Oct. 1, the start of its new fiscal year. Of that amount, he said, Boys & Girls Club needs about $10,000 from the new fundraising campaign within the next two months.

If those goals aren't met, Randall said, "it's possible that we would have to suspend operations."

Nationwide and statewide studies have shown that Boys and Girls Club programs are effective in helping children stay out of trouble and do well in school.

"According to the state of Florida, one-third of all our students drop out of school before graduating," Randall said. "On the other hand, when a kid is a member of a Boys and Girls Club, 90 percent of them graduate from school."

The first half of the four-hour afterschool program is devoted to academics, the last two hours for recreation.

"During the first hour each day after school, we run Project Learn, which is all about doing homework," Randall said. "Then we have Power Hour, where we go over reading, because reading is so important.

"And the last two hours are fun and games, just letting kids be kids."

The Boys & Girls Club began addressing its financial problems in February when it instituted a $25 per month per child charge. Previously, the program had been almost free, with only a $10 per year membership fee.

Attendance dropped slightly when the monthly fees were imposed, Randall said, but he's seeking federal grants to cover those fees for families in need.

"Since most of our kids qualify for free or reduced price school lunches, I've already applied to several programs that would pay all or part of those monthly program fees," he said.

For operations to continue, though, the Twenty Dollar Club campaign must succeed, Randall said.

"With the downturn in the economy, some of the businesses and individuals that were able to contribute larger sums aren't able to do that now," he said. "We had quite a few individuals who were contributing all or part of their (stock) dividends. Many of them aren't receiving dividends now, and some are not even in the stock market anymore."

For information on contributing to the Twenty Dollar Club, call 443-1737 or 453-0240.

With income down from large-gift contributors and special event fundraisers, Boys & Girls Club of Highlands County leaders are copying the strategy of seeking a large number of small donors, which worked in Citrus County.

The Citrus County Boys & Girls Club faced a similar crisis a year ago and became financially secure through its Twenty Dollar Club, Randall said.

In addition to appealing through the news media, Randall said, he will concentrate on talking with service and community organizations. He said he also plans to ask the county's larger employers if he can put on a presentation to their workers.

"This is not a bailout," Randall said about the Twenty Dollar Club campaign. "It's a buy-in, for a very worthy cause."

Highlands Today reporter Jim Konkoly can be reached at 863-386-5855 or e-mail jkonkoly@highlandstoday.com

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