WESTMINSTER : Cash Short Boy’s, Girl’s Club in Peril

For 24 years, the Westminster Boy’s and Girl’s Club has provided latchkey kids a place to go after school.

“Without this club the kids would be hanging on the corner, getting into trouble, joining a gang, or being home alone,” said club president Marge Shillington. “This is some place for them to come, in a safe, supervised atmosphere.”

But as funding has dwindled and expenses have risen over the years, program organizers have been forced to make cuts just to stay open.

Only one staff member is left to supervise all the activities of the 40 to 75 children who regularly come to the club after school. The board may also raise fees, and hours have been cut so that the club closes 90 minutes earlier, at 5:30 p.m.

This while the club looks for an executive director.

“We need money desperately,” Shillington says. “But we’re not going to close again if it’s the last thing we do.”

The club was forced to shut its doors for 18 months in 1991. But contributions from the city and United Way allowed the agency to reopen in July, 1992.

Though the club regularly sponsors fund-raisers and continues to receive grants from both the city and United Way, expenses add up.

“There is a great need in the community for this club,” Shillington said. “If everybody in the city gave us a dollar it would really help us, it could keep us going.”

The Boy’s and Girl’s club has 216 members, all children between the ages of 5 and 17, many of them underprivileged. Dues are $12 a year. The club offers arts and crafts, soccer, basketball, tag football, pool and Ping-Pong tournaments, books and even computers.

Eleven-year-old Yadira Delacruz has come to the club after school since she was 6 years old. She said she likes playing pool, doing arts and crafts, and running around in the gym. It’s like another home for her, she said.

“I was so bored at home, I can’t sit in front of the TV all day,” said Delacruz, remembering the period in which the club was closed. “If I couldn’t come here, I’d be alone, at home, and I don’t really like that.”

Joseph Nguyen, 11, has been a club member since July. “It’s fun here,” he said. “I like sports, basketball, and I’ve made a lot of new friends. Before all I did was stay home and watch TV.”

“Many of the children have grown up at the club,” said secretary Sandie Sorensen. She said many parents work, and children come directly to the club after school and stay until closing. Program director Joe Derichsweiler said the club is an important part of the city, especially because of its proximity to many apartment complexes.

“There are no other clubs in the area,” Derichsweiler said. “There are about eight apartment complexes within five minutes’ walking distance, mostly Hispanic or Vietnamese, four or five people living in two-bedroom apartments. This provides a place for kids to go and be kids.”