Our View: Boys & Girls Club needs community support

The Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line is undertaking an ambitious program to remodel its facilities, expanding its space to provide additional resources to its members and the community at-large.

The expansion will make the building more attractive and help enable the club to increase the number of kids who can use the facility every day.

Of course, it will cost money to build the expansion., but probably not as much as it might cost other agencies. The Boys & Girls Club, in its decade of existence, has built a reputation of doing a lot of a very limited budget.

Development Director Rachel Dean said there will be enough money because she's confident the community will come through.

"I'm confident that our community will come through because they always so," she said.

Maybe that's because the Boys & Girls Club has always come through for the community.

Operating on a wing, a prayer and a tiny budget, the club opened a decade ago. Executive Director Krista Solomon worried that no kids would show up. From the start, the place was packed.

With a small staff, tons of volunteers and a lot of community support, the Boys & Girls Club has flourished beyond any expectations. They have provided games, educational programs, hobbies and technology lessons to hundreds of kids. Most important, they have provided a fun, wholesome place for kids who might otherwise be on the streets. Kids are learning and having a good time instead of getting into trouble.

It might be hard for the community to respond to the pleases from the club for money except that people have seen the tremendous results over the years.

Foundations and large donors will be approached for help, but little donations means just as much.

There was lots of good causes out there for people to donate to, for fraternal groups to raise funds, or for young people to collect pennies for.

But few offer Havre what the Boys & Girls Club offers.

A generation down the road, a lot of Havre residents will be good, solid citizens because the Boys and Girls Club was there to teach them valuable lessons and keep them out of trouble.

You can thank the Boys & Girls Club now for the work that will affect Havre's future.