EVERETT — In the Village on Casino Road community center, it was time for a game of Four Corners.
Players, ages 7 to 14, chose room corners and hoped the person in the middle didn’t call out their spot.
“I don’t like this game,” one boy screamed.
“OK, let’s try it and if we don’t like it, we move on,” a staff member responded.
Soon, the boy sprinted across the room with a smile on his face.
Earlier this month, Connect Casino Road, a nonprofit in south Everett primarily serving the Latino community, started a weekly after-school program in partnership with Camp Fire.
These so-called “Mega Clubs” offer a mix of creative activities free of charge. The first session had 20 children and five more on the waitlist.
Gabriela Gutierrez lives close enough to walk to the community center.
Bringing her two older daughters in gives her more flexibility to take care of her youngest.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to make friendships and keep learning,” she said in Spanish.
Because of her family’s limited means, Gutierrez said, it’s difficult to find things to do outside of their home.
“Sometimes we limit our children’s activities because we don’t have enough money to support them,” Gutierrez said. “So we really want to make the most of this.”
‘The best job’
Before the COVID pandemic, Camp Fire organized six K-12 clubs for after school in Snohomish County, but the public health crisis and staffing issues brought all of them to a halt. Now, in addition to the one at Casino Road, the organization is working on creating six more clubs.
This club receives funding from the Zonta Club of Everett, Camp Fire and Connect Casino Road, which offers the space for free. Most of the schools near the community center are in the Mukilteo School District, where a quarter of the students learn English as a second language and over half come from low-income families.
Connect Casino Road Director Alvaro Guillen said community center patrons had been asking for an after-school program for five years. Guillen had flyers with a January 2023 starting date. But after-hours staffing, both for Connect Casino Road and Camp Fire, pushed the launch back a year.
After 16 years in the Marysville School District working as an aquatics coordinator, Nelly Osborn started at Camp Fire in October.
“I left my school district job to come to Camp Fire so I can make sure there can be programs for kids,” said Osborn, the community and small group programs director. “I’ve been here for a little bit, and it’s the best job I’ve ever decided to do.”
Alia Alvarado, like many parents, found it hard to keep her son away from technology. Alvarado said she was running out of activities to keep her son away from the television. Mega Club staff isn’t strict about children using phones, but they make an effort to provide fun away from screens.
“He’s shy and I want him to become more social,” Alvarado said in Spanish, adding that she drove from Silver Lake for the club meeting. “I like that he socializes with older and younger kids so he can learn to live with kids of all ages.”
‘A time to get out’
Transportation can often be a barrier for families to access other after-school programs, as many don’t have a car, Guillen said.
“Many families can walk here and they already know the center,” he said. “There is a relationship of trust already established for months or, in many cases, years.”
The community center offers over 20 programs, ranging from English classes to free tutoring.
Nelly Lopez Garcia, 14, came to the center for the first time last summer. Last week, she was creating a heart out of square paper cut-outs. Lopez Garcia welcomed the break from studying for finals. She had told her friends about the program.
“It’s a time to get out. My friends and I just stay inside,” she said.
Later on, Osborn said she will let the children decide how to spend their time.
“We don’t just assume that this is what we’re going to do,” Osborn said. “We want to get to know them individually, not as a group. We’re going to get to know these kids and then create the curriculum. Because our biggest thing is to make it where the kids choose what we do.”
They might expand the program to two days a week, if there is enough demand, Guillen said.
“We hope it can go on for years,” he said.
Sign up
Mega Club is 4-5:30 p.m. every Monday at The Village on Casino Road, 14 East Casino Road. To register, call 425-540-7399.
Aina de Lapparent Alvarez: 425-339-3449; aina.alvarez@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @Ainadla.
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