Boys & Girls Club readies for addition

The Board of Directors for the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line performed a ceremonial groundbreaking to celebrate the start of construction for the new addition to their building.

The 4,000 square-foot addition will contain a multi-purpose room and kitchen. Currently, the club is cooking meals on hot plates and George Foreman grills. When they are cooking for children, they could be cooking 180 dinners a night.

The board has not reached its goal of $1.8 million just yet, but Endowment Director Rachel Dean said they are close enough that they feel comfortable beginning the work now. She said they have around $1.6 million, figuring in pledges and grants.

Construction on the addition is set to begin Monday, Dean said. The building is scheduled to be finished at the end of the year, if things go according to the plan. Clausen & Sons is the general contractor hired for the job.

Once the addition is installed, the Boys & Girls Club will be able to accept more children. In 2008, the club started hitting maximum capacity with the number of children it could accept and started having to turn away parents who wanted to sign up their kids, Dean said.

Dean said they have around 360 kids registered for a school year on average and more are always trying to sign up.

"This isn't going to solve the problem, but it will help," Dean said.

Since then, the board has been planning to start funding for the new addition and, in 2012, they began fundraising for it.

Dean said there are still some matching funds left and that anyone who would like to donate to help them meet the goal just needs to contact the club in person, by phone, by Internet or mail.