Not too late to give to Boys & Girls Club

The goal was $75,000 — a thousand dollars for each year it has been in existence. And even though only $20,000 was raised, donations are still being accepted — emphasis on it’s not too late to write a check and get it in.

We’re referring to the Boys and Girls Club of Jefferson County. On Saturday, there was a telethon, complete with entertainment and 25 volunteers answering the phones.

The idea was to get 1,000 people to give $75 each, but if that is out of reach for some, anything and everything helps.

The club has been instrumental in adding quality to young people’s lives over the decades. After-school and summer programs, tutoring, recreation, art, music, photography — there’s hardly an end to what kinds of activities there are at the club, where the youngsters are affectionately called “Club Kids.”

This past year has been a difficult one for the club, as it has been a difficult year for us all. Before covid struck, the club had 325 members and was seeing an average of more than a hundred youngsters a day. Once the pandemic hit, there were only 54 members in all and some 35 attending the daily programming.

Thankfully, they made it through to the spring when, in some areas, we seem to be getting the upper hand on covid. (If everyone gets their vaccine, it would help.)

Now that the numbers are starting to climb, it’s a good time to show the club some financial love. More specifically, it takes about $500 per child each year to keep the doors open. That’s why a thousand people giving $75 sounds so doable, and all of the money raised will be used for the club’s after-school and summer children and teens programs as well as pay for some needed upgrades to the club’s facilities.

This is an institution that has been there for children for, well, since our fathers and grandfathers were little. Let’s make sure it is there for our children and their children. It can happen if we all pitch in.