South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB SITE NAMED FOR CASE
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on April 30, 2004.
The Broward County network of Boys & Girls Clubs has upgraded its presence on the city’s east side.
A two-story building opened this month near the Davie Road extension, under the name Rick and Rita Case Boys & Girls Club, in honor of the car dealership owner and his wife, both longtime supporters.
At 8,600 square feet, the new center is more than three times larger than the area’s old Boys & Girls Club, which was spread out throughout two buildings inside the Ehlinger Apartments complex a couple of blocks away.
The $1.3 million center is part of an effort to revitalize the nearby Harmony
Village residential community, and includes activities for children and social service programs for parents, said Shirley Taylor-Prakelt, the city’s director of housing and community development.
“We believe in the Boys & Girls Clubs,” an emotional Rita Case told visitors at the grand opening. “They’re all about changing the after-school environment.
“If we can create an environment today for the kids who need our help, then tomorrow will be better for all of us.”
Harmony Village includes 22 homes in the Habitat for Humanity project. The new club is closer to those homes and two rental apartment complexes.
“Today [April 14] represents a building, but it’s about the future of individuals coming to the Boys & Girls Club and how it’s going to turn around lives,” Mayor Tom Truex said.
The center also uses the outdoor play area of Driftwood Estates Park, including a baseball field, football field, tennis courts and playground.
Outside are two new basketball courts. The bottom floor of the center, at 7525 NW 33rd St., includes a game room, arts and crafts room, teen activity room, homework room, concession area and an office for the Davie police.
Davie Town Councilwoman Susan Starkey praised the work of Archbishop McCarthy High School senior Sean Sullivan, who built a 6-foot-high wooden bookshelf in the homework room. Sullivan created it as his Eagle Scout project.
The upstairs includes a Family Success Center, a county program that gives residents information about health and financial services.
“They may not go somewhere else for this kind of help, but we think they’ll come here,” Taylor-Prakelt said.
The second floor also will have a computer lab.
Taylor-Prakelt said the building was designed with large windows in each room, to make it easier for staff monitoring. “From every room you can see into every other room,” she said.
Said Rick Case: “Places with milliondollar homes don’t have a recreation center like this.”
A $500,000 grant from the $400 million 2000 Broward County Safe Parks and Land Preservation Bond and a $883,300 community development block grant paid for the building.
The town oversaw its construction and owns the building, but the nonprofit Boys & Girls Clubs is handling staffing and activities. Those operational costs are about $700,000 a year, according to Frederick R. Perry, Boys & Girls Clubs chairman.