Boys and Girls Club celebrates open house

The Mat-Su Valley Boys and Girls Club cut the ribbon and showed off its new facility Thursday night with a community celebration. Friday night, club members broke it in with a dance and Kids' Night.

The Bogard Road facility, which is 8,600 square feet and contains a gym, game room, computer lab, craft room and numerous other activity-related rooms, replaces the 2,400-square-foot facility the club had been using.

"It's a big, big change for the better for us," manager Linda Anderson said. "The new clubhouse is great."

Last summer, more than 700 youths, ranging in age from elementary to high school, took part in the summer program. There are more than 250 students from the elementary program alone.

"We have more kids signing up every day," Anderson told the crowd at the ribbon-cutting ceremony last Thursday. "We are making a difference."

The club is open from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, and M.A.S.C.O.T. (Mat-Su Community Transit) provides transportation from Colony, Palmer and Wasilla schools, and that has been a big plus, Anderson said.

The new clubhouse drew rave reviews from those attending the grand opening ceremony.

"My son has been asking about the club for a while now, and I thought I'd come down and check it out. I never realized there was this much for the kids," said Carol Warner, who was visiting the club for the first time. "This is very impressive. A lot of work went into this. It's exactly what the Valley needs."

In addition to everything the clubhouse has in it, there will be even more for youth to take advantage of in the future.

A nearly regulation-size soccer field is planned for the area below the clubhouse, and a second playing field is also in the works. A playground is also being discussed.

"It's like everything else -- it all depends on how much community involvement we have," Anderson said. "They are on the project list."

At the grand opening, tours were led throughout the building. Along the way, holiday stockings and other signs listed items the club still needs and the prices of each -- ranging from cubbies for backpacks to sewing machines and paper cutters for the craft room.

Numerous community members were applauded for their work in getting the new facility up and running.

"This was a total community effort," Anderson said to the large crowd. "Without you guys, this wouldn't even have been possible."