The Boys & Girls Club (BGC) of the Capital City started its capital campaign "Light the Way Home" at a media luncheon on Monday afternoon.
The club's goal is to raise $2.2 million to build a new two-story facility on Lincoln University's campus, said Stephanie Johnson, executive director of the BGC of the Capital City.
"We are building a new facility because we want an upgrade and we lost the facility on Elm Street due to the MoDOT (Missouri Department of Transportation) Highway 50 / Lafayette interchange," Johnson said. "That is a great project for the community, but one of the downsides was we lost our Boys & Girls Club. But we have this wonderful opportunity to use this as a catalyst for a better facility."
The Elm Street club was demolished to make way for a diamond interchange, which will provide more access to the Fred Whitton Expressway, said Mike Dusenberg, project manager for MoDOT. The current plans for the project have an on-ramp
running through the former Elm Street BGC's playground, so MoDOT acquired the building, he explained. Construction is scheduled to begin in the late winter and conclude around the end of 2016.
The Elm Street location was donated to the club in 1996 and demolished this year. The BGC intends to host a ground-breaking ceremony for the new building in June 2015 and be open for business in August 2016, Johnson said. The new facility will be on the corner of Locust and East Atchison streets and will be approximately 8,000 square feet - 2,000 square feet bigger than the Elm Street location. The new location will also have a cafeteria so the BGC can serve warm meals to several children more efficiently.
"The club is homeless right now; we need your help," said Tami Turner, BGC volunteer. "When there is a need, Jefferson City comes together and makes it happen."
The BGC currently is using five different sites to host its programs for more than 350 children. The new facility is estimated to be able to serve twice as many children, Johnson said.
"As I thought about the Boys & Girls Club, I really thought about my own life," said Kevin Rome, president of Lincoln University. "I thought about when I was a youth going to the Boys & Girls Club. I grew up in a single-parent household, and we were in the projects and very poor. The Boys & Girls Club made a significant impact on my life."
Rome recalled biking a long distance to the clubhouse and said he did not want other children to do that and that he did not want to see the BGC leave this community. He continued to explain that the club's new location would expose children to college students and faculty, thus introducing them to the idea that they, too, could attend college.
"It is hard to be what you can't see," Rome said. "If they can see a college campus every day and they can see college students and they can see faculty, staff and community members, it will inspire them and let them see the possibilities they can reach and hopefully go beyond."
The new club location will also allow Lincoln students to interact with the children. This way students, such as nursing and early childhood education students, will be able to get some training and experience with children, Rome said.
"One thing I believe is to be a part of a community is to share what you have," Rome said. "We have a responsibility to Jefferson City and our community to share our resources. ... We are just doing what we are supposed to do."
The BGC has started its private campaign to solicit large donations from prominent community members, and the public campaign will start after the beginning of next year. Soon donors will be allowed to sponsor children's hand prints for $1,000, Johnson said. The hand prints will decorate a wall in the new building.