MENASHA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – To meet the community’s growing need, a nonprofit organization is expanding.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley broke ground on its 15,000 square-foot expansion of its Menasha location Wednesday.
The $3.34 million expansion project is one of the many pieces in the organization’s Great Futures 2020 Campaign.
The campaign goals include: Adding new safety and security systems at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appleton and Menasha, opening two new school-based clubs in Appleton and Little Chute, increased investment in STEM education, increased mental and behavioral health services, additional bus line service and improving outdoor recreational areas.
Greg Lemke-Rochon, CEO of The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley tells FOX 11 the Menasha expansion will include a career readiness lab.
“That will be a place within which kids can have the opportunity to build technical skills, get exposure to career opportunities that might really help them down the road and get out of the poverty cycle or the low-income cycle.”
He says all these additions are needed because there are 58% more low-income children living in the Fox Cities than there were 12 years ago.
“We are a very busy organization, we reach and serve, we estimate about one out of every four low-income children in the Fox Cities right now, which I suppose is kind of a glass-half-full sort of way of looking at it but it also means that there are three out of every four of the kids in low-income situations in the Fox Cities we do not reach. So what we expect to do through this addition and other initiatives that are underway is to grow the number of kids that we serve and expand and enrich our services to increase the impact that we have on young lives.”
In order to make all these improvements and additions, the Great Futures 2020 Campaign needs to raise $9.875 million. So far, the Boys & Girls Club has received just over $6 million in total commitments.
The Menasha expansion is expected to be completed by the summer of 2020.
If all goals are met in the Great Futures 2020 campaign, the organization hopes by 2023, it can grow the number of young people it serves on average each school day from 1,300 to 1,700.
