Construction to begin in May for larger Boys & Girls Clubs Port Angeles unit

PORT ANGELES — The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula is on the final stretch of fundraising for a new clubhouse for the Port Angeles unit.

Mary Budke, executive director of the clubs, wrote the first grant for the clubhouse three years ago. Now, she expects to break ground at the new site at Lauridsen Boulevard and Francis Street in May and open early in 2020.

The projected cost of the clubhouse is $6.9 million. The organization is at 85 percent of its goal, a crowd packing the Vern Burton Community Center was told Friday during a community breakfast designed to obtain donations of less than $25,000.

That does not count an anticipated $575,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce, Budke said later. The grant is written into the capital budget of the state Legislature.

“We don’t count the money until the budget is signed,” by the governor, Budke said.

Those at the breakfast were treated to a video about the Boys & Girls Clubs — an audible “ahhh” arose from the audience when one child in the video said: “I didn’t know what love was until I came here” — and a speech by Addison Holland of the Port Angeles unit who had just won the statewide Youth of the Year award, as well as several adults involved with the clubs.

Among them was Steve Deutermann, president of the board, who presented the fundraising campaign a check for $10,000 from his late wife.

Katy Deutermann, a strong supporter of the Boys & Girls Clubs, died of a sudden illness in January, Budke said later.

“It was her wish that the breakfast start with $10,000 from her,” Budke said. “It was a blessing to receive that from her.”

Tim Hughes, who with his wife has taken in some 70 foster children who had survived abuse or other precarious situations — and adopted two of them — told the breakfast audience that it’s the Boys & Girls Clubs that makes it possible for them to help children.

The clubs provide safe places, educational activities and mentorship after school and during the summer when their parents or guardians are working.

The clubs “make a life-saving difference for children,” Hughes said.

The new building is needed because the Peninsula Housing Authority has scheduled the present clubhouse at 2620 S. Francis St., for demolition to make way for housing, and because the present clubhouse is beyond its 180-person capacity with a waiting list of 187 children.

Once constructed by Neeley Construction, the new clubhouse will be large enough to house 350 children — a number equal to the average daily attendance of the Sequim unit of the clubs. The average daily attendance of the Port Angeles unit now is between 130 and 180 children, Budke said. Membership — which costs $30 per year although those who can’t afford the membership are not turned away — is 400.

At 15,400 square feet, the new clubhouse will be two times the size of the present building.

The entire upstairs will be a teen center, which can be accessed via an elevator for those with disabilities. The building also will house a gymnasium, commercial kitchen, a dining area, an art room, an education room, a games room, a computer lab, a library, a small conference room and office space.

A play area is planned outside. In addition, the Housing Authority is planning pocket parks throughout its housing development, which the club will make use of, Budke said.

The Boys & Girls Clubs will own the building, which be accessed from Francis Street. The land will be leased from the Peninsula Housing Authority for $1 annually, Budke said.

Clallam Transit will operate a bus stop in front of the clubhouse, she added.

For more information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula, see www.bgc-op.org.

“Do what you can,” said Hughes at Friday’s breakfast. “It makes a difference.”

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Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.