GRANITE FALLS — Just before lunch on a slow day during winter break, nearly 30 kids sought out their favorite spots in the new Boys &Girls Club.
Seven lined up to shoot hoops, six played with toys at cafeteria-style tables, five sat in a row at a desk of computers and four piled onto a couch to play a Smurfs video game.
No one was tripping over each other. No one was crowded.
That’s a luxury, club director Robert Cannon said.
On Dec. 21, the Granite Falls Boys &Girls Club moved into its new home at the former Mountain Loop Fitness gym on the corner of Alder and Stanley streets. The space is quadruple the size of the former school administration building it leased down the street.
Watching the kids’ faces when they walk into the new club for the first time has been the best part of the project, Cannon said. They’re all wide eyes, smiles and exclamations of surprise at the big, bright, open space. When they get around to checking out the foosball and pool tables, the art and science corner and the basketball hoop upstairs, they become even more excited.
It’s a big change, Cannon said. The entirety of their previous location could fit in the new upstairs area, which is being turned into a hangout for teens.
“It’s above and beyond even what the kids expected,” Cannon said.
About 600 young people belong to the Granite Falls Boys &Girls Club but no more than 125 could fit at the previous location. The new building can fit 300 or more, said Bill Tsoukalas, executive director of Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County.
“Being in a 12,000-square-foot building gives us a lot more elbow room, a lot more space for the kids,” he said.
About 200 kids come in regularly and they expect that number to grow. The club has been gaining members since it announced the move to the new building earlier this year.
The new building allows for more programs and is drawing back kids who stopped going, he said. Teens would leave as soon as the elementary schools let out to avoid being swarmed by younger kids. Now they have their own area.
The teen area, basketball hoop and kitchen are upstairs. Downstairs are game tables, televisions, computers, art supplies and lunch tables. There’s also a comfortable entryway for parents to wait for their kids and a mirrored exercise room for group games or evening rentals.
Kayla Nichols is the oldest of five siblings who go to the club. The 11-year-old loves basketball and is a sixth-grader at Granite Falls Middle School, just down the street.
“I love this new building,” she said. “There’s a gym and there’s more space for everyone to play.”
Devin Nelson and Luke Rockstead, both 9 years old and in fourth grade, rattled off a list of everything they like about the new building.
It’s bigger, there’s more furniture, the basketball hoop is awesome, there are more games, there’s an upstairs and the bathrooms are better, they said. Most importantly, more of their friends can come now that there’s enough room.
“If their parents have a job and they’re allowed to stay home, they can come here instead so they’re not super bored,” Devin said.
He demonstrated the wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression he remembers having when he first saw the new building.
“I’d never been inside, so I thought it would be really small,” Devin said. “But I was like, ‘Whoa.’ ”
High school junior Shawn Fuller was one of the first members of the club. His two younger sisters like to bring their own toys to play with. Shawn likes games such as pool and cards.
The new building is what he hoped it would be, he said. “It’s just the space,” he said. “Look at how big it is.”
The mechanical systems, walls and floors have been updated. Staff and volunteers are working to get more computers and furniture.
There are plans to eventually add a full-size gymnasium for youth sports. The club bought property next door to build on once they raise the money, Tsoukalas said.
This week, staff are setting up the teen area so it will be ready by the time school starts again.
“There’s some aesthetic things still, but we really wanted to get in now and give this to the kids,” Cannon said.
Businesses, neighbors and elected officials stepped up to make it possible, he said. Parents have been cheering them on.
“It’s not only a victory for the kids and staff,” Cannon said. “It’s for the families.”
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com
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