ANAHEIM : Boys and Girls Club Needs a New Home

At first sight, the Anaheim Boys and Girls Club isn’t impressive.

Crammed into a double-wide trailer behind Abraham Lincoln Elementary School downtown--it’s believed to be the largest Boys and Girls Club in the state without its own permanent building--the club offers little to attract the eye.

The felt on the two pool tables is torn, and the heads are broken off the plastic soccer players on the foosball tables. The carpet is soiled and worn.

Outside, there are graffiti on the trailer’s back wall. The basketball court is only about half the normal width and length and the asphalt is far from smooth. The playing field isn’t very big.

But by 2 p.m. on any weekday afternoon, the doors to the club fly open, and before they are closed four hours later, more than 100 of the club’s 500 members will have squealed through. And while some children may notice the club’s shortcomings, they don’t seem willing to let a few divots on the playground ruin their games.

“I come here every day,” said Gregory Patterson, 8. “I like the games and the playground. But I wish the pool tables were better. One of them has holes. And we need more (pool) sticks so more people can play.”

But a group of some of the city’s heaviest hitters is trying to help. Led by Fire Chief Jeff Bowman, who is executive board president, club Executive Director Michael J. Sofia, Mayor Tom Daly, Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy and others, the club is trying to raise $2 million to build a permanent facility somewhere in the central city that would include a gymnasium and perhaps a swimming pool. The group sees the club as a part of the solution in the city’s ongoing battle against gangs.

“Look at how many kids come to the club now,” Daly said. In his recent mayoral campaign, Daly promised to find the club a permanent site and to locate donors who could finance the building. “Imagine how many would come if they had something nice.”

Bowman says finding donors for the building and the club’s day-to-day expenses has been difficult because of the recession.

“We picked a tough time to start this club,” Bowman said. “There are a lot of charities out there and they all need money. But we need money too.”

Sofia said he often wonders why smaller cities such as Fullerton, Stanton, Buena Park and Cypress all have buildings for their Boys and Girls clubs and Anaheim does not.

“Nothing against those cities, they have worked hard for those clubs,” Sofia said. “But they don’t have the money and resources Anaheim has. It is a shame that this city doesn’t seem to want to do as much for its kids.”