SANTA ANA : Boys Club Doors Open to Girls Too

May Vang, 11, used to feel sad when her little brother would leave the house each day after school to go to the Boys Club, leaving her behind to do homework and watch television.

But on Monday afternoon, when the Boys Club officially became the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Ana, May didn’t stay home. She was among the first 15 girls who joined in activities at the club, which had been open only to boys since opening in 1957.

As she waited in the club’s gymnasium for a volleyball game to begin, the Russell Elementary School sixth-grader couldn’t hide her enthusiasm for her new after-school hangout.

“I wanted to come here for a long time,” May said. “I think I am going to come here every day.”

The club, located at 950 W. Highland St., has followed the lead of most of Orange County’s 14 other Boys Clubs by welcoming girls to the fold. Currently, the Garden Grove and Placentia Boys Clubs are the only ones still closed to girls. Garden Grove, however, has a separate Girls Club.

The change in Santa Ana is also in line with a nationwide trend that has seen 80% of the clubs across the country go co-ed, said Alex Fey, executive director of the Santa Ana facility.

“The fact that we’re now serving girls reflects our commitment to serving the youth of our area,” Fey said. “All of our boy members have sisters who were just dying to come here. This is going to add a whole dimension to our programming.”

For years, the Girls Club of Santa Ana operated out of a remodeled fire station at 1502 S. Greenville St. But the building was destroyed by an electrical fire in July, 1989. Rather than rebuild it, the two clubs decided to merge. As a result, the club’s current membership of 1,541 is expected to double.

The club, located in a low-income neighborhood in east Santa Ana, has a 90% Latino membership. Those served, in addition to nearby residents, include more than 50 children who are bused there daily from the west side of the city.

The 15,000-square-foot building has its own gymnasium and playing field, a game room, computer room, library, wood shop, photo lab, teen center and weight room.

Programs at the club are designed to boost personal development, leadership, physical education and social skills, Fey said.

Several new activities will be added now, Fey said, including dance, cooking, aerobics, sewing and fine arts. The club hopes both boys and girls will be attracted to the new offerings.

“We’re trying to broaden our programming to reflect the change,” Fey said. “But we expect boys to participate in some of the new activities. I think something like cooking will interest many of the boys.”

Although most of the club’s regulars welcomed the arrival of girls, a few were disgruntled.

Seventh-grader Jerry Cruz made no attempt to mask his displeasure, calling the situation “a drag.”

“Girls, they don’t know how to hang,” Cruz said. “If you tell them something, they get mad. They can’t take a joke. I wish they’d go away.”

But he was in the minority. Most of the boys agreed with 11-year-old Rafael Alvarez.

“It’s no problem,” said the sixth-grader. “I think it will be better now.”