The Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City is meeting demand with a new expansion on the west side of town.
Executive Director Wade Middaugh announced Monday the Boys & Girls Club purchased the former Big Top Child Development Center at 1123 Charm Villa Drive. The $1.2 million investment will be used to provide daily services for 175 children on the west end of Jefferson City this fall and double the capacity of the Boys & Girls Club summer camp next year.
"This site will be a second home for kids in these neighborhoods for years to come," Middaugh said. "A safe place where club kids know people care about them and their future, and will do whatever it takes to help them succeed."
Middaugh said the new 9,500-square-foot facility, which features more than an acre of playground and recreation space, will serve students from Belair Elementary School, West Elementary School, Lawson Elementary School and Pioneer Trail Elementary School.
It will offer all of the same Boys & Girls Club services as the Railton Center, including daily hot dinners, education support through STEM learning and tutoring, character and leadership building programs, and emotional and social learning programs.
"We're just excited to be able to come over on the west side and do the same thing: have a standalone location that can serve almost 200 kids," Middaugh said. "It's just a huge milestone for the club and for this community."
Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City was founded in 1995 to provide a safe space for children to grow, learn, make friends and have fun, Middaugh said. The organization continued that mission by opening the Railton Center in 2017 and a site at the Knowles YMCA annex building in 2019.
The organization is anchored to the east side of the city by the Railton Center, but Middaugh said the new facility will allow Boys & Girls Club to address a growing need on the west end.
"Over the past three years, we've seen the increased need for our services at that site and have been at capacity with a waitlist of children we could've served if we had additional space," he said.
In addition to expanding capacity, the move away from rented space at the YMCA allows the Boys & Girls Club to change the space and create a more suitable layout, Middaugh said.
"Our board, staff and investors knew we had to find a way to increase our capacity to provide these critical services, especially for youth who need us most," he said.
Janet Enloe, Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City board president, said it's an exciting time made possible through community support.
The ability to offer a supervised after-school program where children can get hot meals and develop from enrichment programs is important, Enloe said, and the rented facility was great, but too small.
"We've been looking for quite awhile, and we're excited to find this property that is right in the heart of the west end of town and will make it very convenient for families," she said.
Ann Bax, United Way of Central Missouri president, was on hand for Monday's announcement and said she was proud of the Boys & Girls Club for taking a leap of faith to serve more children.
The United Way works with 28 partner agencies, including the Boys & Girls Club of Jefferson City, on a variety of social service missions. Because services often overlap, Bax said progress in one area can be beneficial to many other agencies.
Boys & Girls Club purchased its new facility with the contents still inside. The Special Learning Center, Little Explorers Discovery Center and YMCA, as United Way-partnered early childhood centers, will get some of the daycare furniture and equipment the Boys & Girls Club doesn't need, Bax said.
"It's really rewarding to see the families that we're able to touch in a holistic way," she said. "It's just a blessing to get to play a small role in the work that our agencies are doing on the front lines."
Time is the biggest challenge facing the new facility, Middaugh said. The organization has about 45 days to remodel the building, hire eight to nine new staff members and set up rooms before the start of the school year.
"It's going to be a challenge, but we're ready for that challenge, and we're going to make it happen," he said.
The new facility will use a different fee structure, Middaugh said, but the club will continue welcoming children if they can't pay.
Middaugh said parents interested in enrolling their children can sign up online at bgcjc.com beginning July 1. For questions, he suggested contacting the club directly.
Boys and GIrls Club of Jefferson City Executive Director Wade Middaugh announced Monday morning, June 27, 2022, that the BGC had purchased the building that formerly housed Big Top Child Development Center at 1123 Charm Villa Dr. on the city's west side. The building will now be used for BGC after-school activities with include mentoring, counseling, constructive activities, meals and more. The building, which is over 5000 square feet, will have to undergo renovation to make it ready to hold students when school starts this fall. (Julie Smith/News Tribune photo)