Boys & Girls Club gets improvement grant
JACKSONVILLE — The Boys & Girls Club of Jacksonville is the recipient of a large grant from Lowe’s and will use that money for improvements to the club’s facility.
The Jacksonville club is receiving a $50,000 grant from Lowe’s as part of its initiative Lowe’s Renovation Across the Nation. That program is giving $50,000 to 50 Boys & Girls Clubs across the country, one in each state.
“It’s a tremendous opportunity for us,” said LaConda Watson, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Jacksonville. “With us being in an older building, it’s helping us get further along regarding the safety of our kids. We’re behind the times in making sure our building is safe and secure. This is an opportunity for us to be able to do that.”
“It is an honor. Obtaining this grant is just a step forward in the direction where we are looking to increase our safety and increase awareness with our families and our children.”
The grant must be used to help refurbish the facility, said Watson, who has one big idea in mind.
“Safety is our No. 1 priority when it comes to this club,” she said. “I take it seriously.”
Right now, there are no security check-in points at the Jacksonville facility.
“For us, it will be focused on safety,” Watson said. “Right now, as you walk into the club, it’s open. It’s a vulnerable opportunity for anyone to walk in — parents, children, and we’re not really vetting people the way we need to. For today’s society and with everyone going on with active shooters and the like, we want to be able to control that traffic and help parents stay contained.
“I know at the end of the day, everyone wants to get there kid out and go home and handle their business. For us, it’s the fact that we need to ensure that we’re getting the right child with the right parents and also being able to vet and ensure security with all of our members, as well as our staff. Being able to control our entry to the club is important.”
What Watson is proposing is a buzz-in system with an intercom, similar to what many schools have these days.
“We want to have that set up by the end of the year,” Watson said.
According to plans that Watson provided, the area right outside the door would include an enclosed vestibule. As someone comes in the front door, a new security area would be in place for the workers and children to be separated from visitors until they are allowed access to the facility.
“With this grant, the opportunity and the timeline we have before us is for it to be ready before the end of the year,” Watson said, “so that we can have that point of security where we have that buzz in system.”
In addition to the safety measures, the club is working on what Watson calls “the teen room.”
“We’re looking to enhance our teen room,” Watson said.
She said the room hasn’t been appealing to teenagers in recent years.
“We want them to say, ‘Hey, you know what, I want to come to the Boys & Girls Club and have a good time,’” Watson said. “We’re looking at making that room more appealing and more enticing to our teenagers so they cam come here to the
club and feel like they are big kids. They don’t want to feel like they need supervision all the time. We want that room to to be their own room.”
Watson said volunteers from Lowe’s in Jacksonville have painted the room and ripped out the old carpet. The club has also received donated material from Lowe’s to put in new countertops.
“What can we do to reach our children?” Watson asked. “So I’m hoping we can do our little piece, as far as doing things with the community, whether they are club members or just coming in off the street.”
Watson said the Boys & Girls Club had an after-hours teen party last month, and she hopes to make the party a monthly event.
“It was something for the teens to come here and have some fun and a good time,” she said. “Once we have [the teen room] set up, we’re going to have a big grand opening for the room. Hopefully, let them come here and have a good time.”
Watson said more computers will be set up in the teen room. The club received a donation of 20 personal computers and monitors from the U.S. Social Security Administration office in Little Rock.
“It will give the teens a way to get away from being that caregiver to their brother or sister, or whatever they’re doing,” Watson said, “and come here and do their homework or whatever they are interested in.
“Those are some good aspirations that are attainable with the right people in place.”
For more information about the Boys & Girls Club, visit www.jbgc.org.