Yesterday
The Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley was founded in 1992 by a group of
community leaders in response to the need for safe, affordable, educational and
productive activities for at-risk youth during non-school hours. For its first ten
years, however, the Club did not have a home to call its own, invited to utilize local schools’ space, but forced to move when the schools reclaimed th
e space to meet their own needs. In 1998, a site
was opened at Columbus Middle School in Canoga Park but was closed a year
later because of the school’s needs. The Club moved to the Pacific Lodge Boys Home in
Woodland Hills, where it remained until January, 2004. At that time, after years of fund raising, the Club purchased its own facility
with the help of a grant from the state and assistance from a local business leader. Today
The Club’s current location at 7245 Remmet Ave., Canoga Park, is a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building. The building was recently significantly renovated and is today well-suited to meet the needs of local children. A focus of the Club in recent years has been to gather as much community support as possible to let the surrounding community’s businesses and residents know how crucial the facility is to the well-being of the neighborhood. Local support is particularly crucial because the national Boys & Girls Clubs of America does not subsidize the Boys & Girls Club of the West Valley; the West Valley Club depends largely on its own community for support. When the Club was opened in Woodland Hills in the 1990s, the children using the facility were mostly from a middle-class socio-economic level. Fewer than 50 percent were under the poverty level. For that reason, funding was difficult to obtain. Now being located in Canoga Park, more than 80 percent of the children come from families living beneath the poverty level. Foundations are recognizing that there is a greater need for support than ever, while local organizations and local businesses throughout the West San Fernando Valley are discovering how much the Club is doing for the local community and are helping out. Businesses are providing both financial and in-kind support and the Club has collaborated with various agencies in the area to benefit children and families. It takes money to run a Boys & Girls Club – approximately $500 per child per year. The alternative: keeping a young adult in jail costs taxpayers $25,000 to $75,000 annually. The Boys & Girls Clubs’ proven delinquency-prevention programs are one of the best bargains in America. Major special events are staged by the Club throughout the year as fundraisers that also inform the community about the Club’s programs and activities. The Club brings a lot of creativity to such activities as a Mile of Quarters event held at the Westfield Topanga Mall, where quarters are laid out for a mile through the mall to raise money for the Club. Individuals, companies, service clubs, and schools sponsor certain portions of the mile. It’s a fun-filled day featuring music and entertainment and provides an interactive event for the whole community. All these events as well as all the other community outreach activities in which the Club participates have a single purpose – to position the Club as a vital place to help children in the community in a constructive manner that educates them and helps them grow.
