SEQUIM — He sounds like he’s inviting us to jump into a big swimming pool.
“We want to get everybody into the club,” said Stephen Rosales, the bus-driving, fund-raising, child-herding volunteer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
Rosales and the rest of the staff are busy promoting two new projects this Saturday at the Sequim unit: the Spring Fling and Date Night.
The fling, an open house featuring face-painting, games, bongo-drum lessons, Zumba and hip-hop dance classes, art projects and other festivities, is “open to all kids, young and old!” the flier proclaims.
During the party, the teen club inside the Sequim unit also will offer art activities, as will the “tween room” for pre-teenagers.
“We want to show people that the Boys & Girls Club is more than kids playing basketball,” Rosales said.
“We’re going to have all of our rooms open and staffed by a staffer and club kids . . . to show the community what a diamond they have here.”
Admission free
Admission is free to the Spring Fling, which will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the club at 400 W. Fir St. in Sequim.
Then, Saturday night, parents are encouraged to bring their kids back — in pajamas, with pillows if they like — for Date Night.
The club will provide dinner, a movie and other activities for children while their moms and dads go out for the evening, explained Sequim club director Mary Budke.
Youngsters can dine and enjoy games and snacks at the club from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Parents pay $20 per child or $50 for families of three or more children.
“This is a great thing,” Budke said, “for parents who don’t have extended family in the area. We already have quite a signup.”
The club staff hopes to hold a Date Night every month, she added.
Sequim, Port Angeles
All of this is part of the Boys & Girls Clubs’ aim to demonstrate the variety of offerings at both the Sequim unit and the Mount Angeles unit at 2620 S. Francis St. in Port Angeles.
That club had an open house on March 27 that attracted more than 250 people, volunteer Jodi Olson said.
Many had known little or nothing about the Boys & Girls Clubs’ after-school and summer- and winter-break activities.
The Spring Fling and Date Night are not only consciousness-raising events. They’re also part of the Campaign for Kids, the clubs’ annual fund drive.
The goal is to raise $70,000 between now and Aug. 31 — and in this economy, amid so many other worthy nonprofits’ efforts to raise money, that won’t be a simple matter.
So “we’re trying some different things,” said Olson, chairwoman of the campaign.
To help jump-start the Campaign for Kids, Kim Rosales presented a $500 check last week to the clubs on behalf of her family, which includes husband Stephen and daughters Elizabeth, 10, and Ashley, 8.
Olson is also a parent of two children, age 5 and 7, who use the Sequim club.
“They love going,” she said, adding that the Spanish club, the tennis program and the art activities are among their favorites.
They don’t usually go to the club after school, but have enjoyed programs offered during summer and winter vacations.
The Boys & Girls Club is not a day care, Olson said. “It’s an enrichment program,” offering fitness, technology, art, sports and other activities.
“It acts as such a community center,” she added.
Seniors use the gym for classes, as do local organizations, and “any time you walk in, there are all kinds of volunteers.”
For more information about Spring Fling, Date Night and the Campaign for Kids, phone the Sequim club at 360-683-8095. For information about the Port Angeles club, phone 360-417-2831.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.