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Boys & Girls Club of Oakhurst Thriving

Tuesday morning bright and early about twenty members of the Oakhurst Sierra Sunrise Rotary Club got to enjoy breakfast and get the inside scoop on what is going on at the Boys and Girls Club of Oakhurst these days.

After Club President Dale Miller opened the meeting and stumped the members with his weekly trivia questions, President Elect Susan Macaulay introduced the BGC Board President Rima Runtzel and Unit Director J. Doss.Rima took a few minutes explaining how the summer program compares to the school year program. Throughout the year computer and reading programs are offered at the Club but during the summer, with attendance smaller at about 30-40 students per day, students have an opportunity to get out for some fun summer activities including going to the movies, bowling and heading to Wild Water Adventures.

Over the last 11 years the Boys and Girls Club has grown to have attendance that averaged 100-120 students each day. The large numbers put a strain on the staff, facility and budget of the Club. Unit Director J. Doss described it as “managed chaos.”

Last year the BGC Board instituted a new fee structure in the hope of finding a balance between providing much needed services and assuring the long-term existence of the Club. The fee change created some challenges for everyone involved and has now proven to have been a wise move. The Club expects to see attendance numbers in the 60-80 range when school starts in a few weeks.

After working on several options, the Club is moving forward with the installation of new restrooms, thanks to a Chukchansi grant. Rima shared that, “The kids are so excited about the new restrooms and the County has been really cooperative with it.”

The Rotarians, many of whom had never visited the site, were appreciative to get the full tour and have all their questions answered. There were lots of complements about what the Rotarians saw and heard.

In summing up J. Doss said, “We have one of the most caring and generous communities I’ve ever seen. Without a giving public and generous service clubs we couldn’t do our work. All of you make this happen.”

2 comments

  1. If anyone else would like to hold their service club meeting at the club or recieve a private tour, please contact us!

  2. marianna burrett

    No mention of the newly installed community organic garden and 10 week teaching curriculum that was given over the summer @ BGClub that was not only fun but also imparted valuable life skills? Beyond that, staff and students are actually eating fresh fruits and vegetables from this teaching garden. Odd there was no mention of this.

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