Club Closes
Juneau Boys & Girls Club closes today, leaving 155 kids with no place to go
Due to a loss of funding, the Boys and Girls Club of Juneau will close today, leaving 155 kids without a place to go after school.
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"This is the only place in town kids can come and hang out," said Lena Strickling, 12, who attended the club for a year and a half.
Aubrey Lewis, 12, has been attending "forever" and said the club helps her with her homework.
Strickling agreed.
"It actually makes us work, which I normally wouldn't do," she said.
Taylor Crafton, 11, said she has nowhere else to go after school.
Sixty of the club's members attend the after-school program every day.
The three girls are writing a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to reopen the club. They plan to get as many members of the community as possible to sign it.
The decision to close the club, announced Thursday afternoon, shocked clubhouse manager Taralee Ellis.
"Today is one of the hardest days of my life," she said in a letter to parents and members of the club. "This comes as a shock to all of us here at the clubhouse. We were anticipating cutbacks, but not the closure of the whole club."
Though the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska sent out a press release dated Sept. 18 stating that the loss of about $2 million in annual federal funding, along with national and state economic downturns, could force the closure of "a number" of statewide clubhouses. Individual clubs were not specified.
The release also said closings were hoped to be temporary "while alternative funding sources are sought."
Calls to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southcentral Alaska's chief executive officer and chief operations officer were not immediately returned Thursday.
According to data provided by the United Way of Southeast Alaska, which provided funding to the club, expenditures this year for the Boys and Girls Club of Southcentral Alaska were expected to be $7,782,000 - $16,000 short of revenues.
Also according to that data, 67 families of the 175 kids listed as members in 2008 made less than $4,000 monthly, qualifying them as "low to moderate income." Forty families did not report their income.
"All these parents, what are they going to do with their kids?" said United Way of Southeast Alaska President Brenda Hewitt.
The decision leaves single mother of three and former manager of the Boys and Girls Club Carrie McMullen in a difficult position.
"I can't pay $1,000 for RALLY," she said. "I don't know what I'll do. This club, for me and for a lot of low-income families, has been a blessing in disguise."
RALLY, or Recreation, Arts, Learning and Leadership for Youth, is a state-licensed, school-aged care program that costs $286 a month for most elementary kids and $474 for most kindergartners.
RALLY costs $320 for children attending Mendenhall River, who get out of school earlier on Fridays, and $22 per afternoon, said RALLY Tech Misti Hogberg.
Assistance for needy families is available from various agencies, Hogberg said.
The closing could result in a rise in RALLY registrations.
"We would hope that there would be, because we don't want parents sending kids home alone," Hogberg said.
Ellis said the Juneau Boys and Girls Club will continue office hours until Sept. 30.
• Contact reporter Mary Catharine Martin at 523-2276 or maryc.martin@juneauempire.com.