LAKE STEVENS – The city finally has its own Boys &Girls Club.
More than 100 kids and adults celebrated the grand opening of the club Wednesday with root beer floats, cake and a three-point hoop-shooting contest.
“It isn’t just a place. It represents a coming together of the community surrounded by children,” Paul Seely, Boys &Girls Club community development director. “To see all of these smiling faces means a lot.”
Community members, service clubs and others raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the 7,000-square-foot club a reality.
“It’s really exciting to have everyone here, especially in a community that needed something for the children,” said Jeremy Oshie, director of operations at the new club.
The total project fund of $1.2 million paid to remodel and equip the former Mitchell Community Center. The club, at 1609 E. Lakeshore Drive, also received some grant money from a state fund, which will help pay for a new gym.
The club has a game room, a multipurpose room, an arts and crafts room, a kitchen, computer lab, projection screen and a teen room for students in middle school and high school.
Youths who pay the $20 annual membership fee between now and the end of the year can get up to four months of free membership.
The membership will pay for all of 2005, and there will be no extra charge for the rest of this year, Oshie said.
For more information, call the club at 425-377-0250.
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