Boys and Girls Club building a future for kids

By Bill Lisser
bill@olmstedcountyjournal.com

Mon, Mar 26th, 2012
Posted in Rochester Features

Comment(1)

The Boys and Girls Club of Rochester will be getting a new home. Photo submitted

For many years the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester has been operating in the Holmes School Building on East Center Street in Rochester. It operates in a part of the building that is safe and useable. But many areas of the building can’t be used because they are unsafe for a variety of reasons, including the presence of asbestos or other hazardous material. That is all about to change.

“When people come and see the current state of the building and the faces of the kids served, they see the need,” said Jodi Millerbernd, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club.

Because of the generosity of businesses and people in the community, Knutson Construction will begin demolishing part of the building and ground breaking for the new Boys and Girls Club building this spring. Some sections of the building that are useable will remain and will be refurbished.

The new building will be a 50-50 joint partnership. It will also be housing the Child Care Resource and Referral’s Head Start Program as they become partners with the Boys and Girls Club in the new building. The new building, at the same location, will double their capacity to serve kids. The two organizations together will support youth ages birth to 18 in the same building.

“There is not another project like this in the country,” Millerbernd said. “Head Start gets kids ready to go to school and the Boys and Girls Club helps keep them in school,” Millerbernd said.

“Why we have been successful is because of partnerships,” Millebrend said. “It really is a community project.”

The same sentiment was stressed by Patrick Gannon, Executive Director of the Child Care Resource and Referral’s Head Start Program. “Board members have done extraordinary work to make this project happen,” Gannon said. “It has been very humbling to our staff to see what they are doing for us.”

The Head Start programs have been meeting in classrooms at three different churches in Rochester. “We have had excellent relationships with the churches,” Gannon said, “The new building will allow us to bring all the children together for more continuity.”

The asbestos and hazardous material removal is scheduled to begin in April and will take about one month. The plan is to start the project in May if everything comes together, according to Project Manager John Prispash from Knutson Construction.

“This has been a great project watching the community come together, very gratifying,” said Prispash. “This project would not have happened without that.” The current building consists of several sections built over a number of years. The first building was built in 1926; that section will be demolished. There was an addition in 1954; and that section facing East Center Street will be stripped inside to the structure and rebuilt. The 1964 section will be refurbished.

For the construction to take place, the Boys and Girls Club will have to move temporarily. The Center Street unit will be moving to the Northwest Unit effective March 28, with plans to move back into the new Center Street Unit in 2013. They have already started serving all members at the Northwest Unit located at 930 40th Street NW. The inconvenience of temporarily moving will be offset with a building and facilities that will add to what can be offered to kids. It has been stressed over and over that this project is all about the kids and the support for families. “We know when there is a mentoring adult in the child’s life, they tend to be more successful,” said Gannon.

The new building will house a “WOW” Teen Center to help kids build relationships. Kids can come to the center to have fun with friends in the game room. There will be a full-size gymnasium where the 1926 part of the building now stands. The Boys and Girls Club offers meals and nutrition programs, educational initiatives to improve school performance, and character building programs. The arts, culture, sports, fitness and recreation are all part of the programs.

The Boys and Girls Club served over 46,000 meals last year. Eighty percent of the kids are from low income households. There is a $10 a year membership fee and anyone is welcome. There are scholarships available for those in need.

During the school year transportation to the Center Street Club is provided by the school district. Bamber Valley Elementary, Ben Franklin Elementary, Friedell Middle Schjool, Jefferson Elementary School, Kellogg Middle School, Longfellow elementary School and Riverside Central Elementary School provide transportation. Transportation for the NW Club is provided from Sunset Terrace Elementary and Washington elementary. To find out about transportation from other schools you may call the Club.

“I have learned about both organizations and I am amazed at what they do,” Prispash said.

Comments:

142

4:49:18, Mar 28th 2012

historian says:

Too bad that so many organizations in this town don't care about the historical buildings we still have. Nothing about that building needs to be demolished, and nothing needs to be stripped down to the walls. All of that building could be put to use with some work to it - work that would not destroy the history and beauty of the building -but the extremes they are going to are not necessary. But this is typical of Rochester and the organizations here - no respect for history at all.