Firm’s Largess Boosts Boys and Girls Club

A $400,000 donation from a local computer parts manufacturer has given the Boys and Girls Club construction project the financial boost it needed.

Mayor George B. Scott said the contribution from Kingston Technology Corp., a designer and maker of computer memory modules, is a windfall that will get the 19,000-square-foot clubhouse built and opened to children by December.

“This is a big jolt, it will put us over the top,” said Scott, who has been involved in the fund-raising effort for the past 10 years. “They are demonstrating that as a member of the community, that they want to give something back to the community.”

Because Kingston’s donation is the largest single donation received for the project, the organization is considering naming the new clubhouse after the company, said Richard A. Cook, immediate past president and board member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley, which operates facilities in Huntington Beach.

Currently, Fountain Valley club members are bused to the Huntington Beach facilities.

Cook said about $1.5 million has been raised so far, but the nonprofit organization is short about $300,000 to complete the building’s interior. Supporters hope to raise the remaining money in coming months, he said.

In the past few years, the project has been plagued by delays. But construction of the clubhouse at Mile Square Regional Park is underway, with completion of the building shell expected by the end of the month, Cook said.

“We’ve always seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is getting really short now,” Cook said. “This [donation] will show people that it’s really a viable project and that there are a lot of people who care about what the Boys and Girls Club brings to the community and the services it gives to children.”