$400,000 Will Go to Plan Center for Kids

In a boost to its efforts to build a new activities center, the Boys & Girls Club of Capistrano Valley received a donation this week and will later receive another that will together total $400,000.

“This is the amount of money we need to get this started,” said James L. Williams, executive director of the club. “Now we will be able to hire architects and plan fund-raisers.”

The club has proposed building its new headquarters next to the planned San Juan Capistrano Community Center.

The club, which needs $1.5 million for the 11,000-square-foot building, will received the $100,000 donation from the Junior League of Orange County California Inc. at its annual meeting Thursday in Irvine. The league is a 1,000-member volunteer organization that seeks to improve local communities.

“We are also having a group of volunteers work with the club to help operate programs and obtain funding,” said Meagan Crosby, a league spokeswoman.

Later, a $300,000 donation, provided by an anonymous San Juan Capistrano-area donor, will be given to the club. This donation was contingent on the club raising $100,000, Williams said.

For eight years, local club organizers have struggled to find a permanent home for programs offering children after-school activities.

The money allows the club to begin planning its new headquarters as an extension of the city’s $6-million Community Center. The 36,400-square-foot center at Camino del Avion and Alipaz Street is next to Marco Forster Elementary School. The club’s proposal still needs the city’s final approval.