A Shattered Refuge : Simi Valley: Boys & Girls Club was hit hard in earthquake. Park district postpones 50% of activities it sponsors.

The Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley is designed to be a refuge where children can escape the pressures of daily life.

But the Northridge earthquake left the main clubhouse a shambles, causing at least $100,000 in damage. Yellow police tape cordons off the entryway in front of an overhang that dips in the center and is rippling with cracks. Inside, light fixtures and materials are scattered across the floor.

“It’s a mess,” said Executive Director Becca Merrell. “I’m sure you’ve heard it a thousand times, but it was astounding--like a bomb dropped. Everything that had been up was down.”

Damage from the earthquake has disrupted the Boys & Girls Club and several other Simi Valley after-school programs.

The Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District has put 50% of its classes and activities on hold because of damage to several buildings. The YMCA must raise $16,000 to cover losses it incurred from canceling day care and other after-school programs.

To resume some activities, Boys & Girls Club staff have improvised, cleaning up the club’s recreation room and other buildings that escaped structural damage.

Staff members said it was important to provide a safe place for the 70 to 90 kids who are accustomed to spending afternoons at the club after school.

“After all that’s happened, we want this to be at least one place the kids can come where they don’t have to think about the earthquake,” said Paula Mackelburg, program director for the Boys & Girls Club.

The club on Kadota Street in east Simi Valley was among the most damaged.

Inspectors told club officials that the 6,000-square-foot main clubhouse--which contained pool tables, couches and art materials--was lifted off the ground.

When it came down, light fixtures crashed, supplies spilled from shelves and walls separated from the ceiling.

Plexiglass windows also popped out of the 4,000-square-foot recreation room, and lights and debris dropped from the ceiling.

Club officials are searching for ways to pay for repairs.

The Boys & Girls Club, however, reopened in conjunction with nearby Simi Valley schools. Mackelburg said it is one of only a few places parents feel comfortable leaving their children during the hours between school and the end of the workday.

“A lot of these kids are latch-key kids, and we consider this a danger time,” she said. “Especially now, with all of the new burdens and stresses on them, we want them to be comfortable here and not have them think they have no place to go.”

Keeping children free from stress has also been a concern of parents.

Enrollment in YMCA activities, which were canceled during the week after the quake, rose sharply last week.

“A lot of parents don’t want to leave their kids home alone even for a few hours,” said Jim King, the YMCA’s executive director. “The children and the parents are still very shaken up.”

Parents have stopped by the after-school programs to check on their children and make sure staff members are adequately prepared.

“We’ve had instructors who have had to pull out every item in the earthquake kit to show the parents we’re prepared,” King said.

The same has been true at the Boys & Girls Club, where officials have received dozens of calls from parents.

The president of the Boys & Girls Club’s parent group, Kathi Fuentevilla, has planned a tour of the club this weekend.

“The staff here knows that parents won’t be comfortable unless they see for themselves that it’s safe,” Fuentevilla said. “They know that if we’re not comfortable our kids won’t be comfortable.”

Alita Martin visited the Boys & Girls Club in the middle of the afternoon “just to give my daughters a hug and a kiss.”

“I wanted to be with them in case there is another earthquake,” Martin said.

Martin said she has already pulled her two daughters out of an evening karate class at the club because the damage there frightened her.

“I was trying not to show my fear on my face as I looked around, but it scares me,” Martin said. “Maybe it’s because it’s at night. I just want to be with my kids if there’s another aftershock.”

Merrell said the club’s attendance was down for a few days, but by week’s end it was back to normal.

“People are trying to get their work back in order and their lives fixed up, and that means they have to let go of their kids for a little while,” Merrell said. “We tried to get things fixed up here so we could be there for them.”

Parents who planned to enroll their children in classes or programs at the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District, still do not know if they will have a place to send their kids.

The district, which runs more than 100 after-school programs for thousands of kids, has lost the use of several facilities because of earthquake damage. Others have been taken over by disaster relief workers.

One of the largest programs facing cancellation, said district administrator Jeff Anderson, is youth basketball, which involves more than 1,000 children in Simi Valley.

Anderson said the program’s organizers have been working to arrange the use of outdoor courts and other facilities.

Rick Johnson, a spokesman for the district, said more than half of the classes and programs have been affected.

“About all we could do, once all this happened, was try to juggle our schedules to get some of our programs going,” Johnson said. “It’s a shame, because this would be a great way for kids to keep their minds off all that’s happened.”