Hanging at the club
Boys & Girls Club offers safe place for kids

By Sean Hart
Argus Observer
Saturday, October 24, 2009 11:01 PM PDT

ONTARIO — About 90 children utilize the Boys & Girls Club of the Western Treasure Valley every day after school, Program Director Kristi Wherry, 25, New Plymouth, said.

But she wants to see more.

“People are still finding out we’re here,” she said Thursday at the club, 2441 S.W. Fourth Ave., Ontario.

“I would love to see 150 kids in here a day. It’s a very positive, safe place for kids to hang out,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know what we do. It’s really about providing opportunities they (the children) wouldn’t have. And teaching responsibilities.”

Wherry said the club, which is open to any child age 6 through 18, offers homework assistance and programs in the arts, sports and recreation, education and career, health and lifestyles and character and leadership.

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“We also run other national programs geared toward specific age groups. There are so many national programs. They’ve proven — throughout the United States — to be effective,” Wherry said. “They are perfect.”

With seven part-time employees, in addition to Wherry and Executive Director Sunny Haynes, the club provides constant supervision for the children once they check in beyond the “parent wall,” where only the children and people who have passed a background check are allowed, Wherry said.

Each of the club’s 746 current members were issued membership cards when they signed up, which is easy but requires a parent, Wherry said.

“Coming in January, it’s going to be $10 a year per child (for membership),” she said, “and we have scholarships if people can’t afford it.”

Bryce Van Zelf, 20, Nyssa, who has been a part-time employee at the club for about month, said he thinks it helps keep children from being out in the streets.

“I think it gives them (children) a place they can go where they can be themselves and not be picked on — a safe environment,” he said. “I wish I had something like this when I was growing up.”

The club, which stresses respecting club staff, club members, club equipment and oneself, is open Mondays through Fridays, from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on regular school days, from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on half school days and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. when there is no school — based on Ontario School District elementary school schedule, Wherry said.

“It’s a very positive place for kids to come after school when they usually lack supervision. The less time young kids are unsupervised, the better (it is),” Cory Sappe, 26, a juvenile counselor for the Malheur County Juvenile Department, said. “It benefits the kids a lot. Hopefully it makes my job easier.”

Boys & Girls Club of the Western Treasure Valley Program Director Kristi Wherry is attempting to bolster community partnerships with the club and said it is always in need of volunteers. The club is also currently in need of a larger mode of transportation, such as a bus or a van, to take children to community service projects and on campus tours. For more information or to donate, call the club, (541) 889-7979.

Lifestyle Editor Sean Hart can be contacted at SeanH@argusobserver.com.