LAKE STEVENS — Construction is under way at the Lake Stevens Boys and Girls Club, and now supporters hope the state will pitch in to help build a gym at the club this year.
"I’m pretty optimistic that I can get the money for the gymnasium," state Rep. Hans Dunshee said. "I’m working on it pretty hard. The budget will be done by the end of the month. When the ink is dried on it, then we’ll begin. I think it’ll happen this year."
Dunshee, D-Snohomish, is chairman of the Capital Budget Committee.
Local officials have asked for a $400,000 grant from the capital budget to add to money already raised in the community to build the club and the gym.
"We’ve got a long ways to go," said Jan Larsen, who is helping lead the fund-raising effort. "We’ve raised $815,000 to $825,000 for the two projects, but we need about $1.2 million."
Officials expect to have the club completed by the Fourth of July and to open it in September, said Bill Tsoukalas, executive director of Boys and Girls Clubs of Snohomish County.
If the state doesn’t approve the grant, organizers will have to go back to the community to raise the rest of the money, Tsoukalas said.
"It’s incredibly important," Dunshee said. "Boys and Girls Clubs lower all the indicators of bad attitudes in kids. They give kids a place to go after school so they’re not out messing around. This is crime prevention, drug-use prevention. There are all kinds of good things that happen when kids have a good place to go. This just makes it a better community."
After the Snohomish Boys and Girls Club opened in September, more than 1,300 youngsters became members in less than two months, Tsoukalas said. He’s expecting about the same enrollment in Lake Stevens because the two school districts are similar in size, he said.
The club will be in the remodeled Mitchell Community Center, 1609 E. Lakeshore Drive. The club has a 30-year-lease on the building, with a 10-year option to renew, for $1 a year.
If construction goes as planned, the club will be finished and equipped in July. In August, the club will host an open house, provide tours and allow kids to sign up. The official ribbon-cutting will be in September just prior to the opening of school.
Memberships will be $20 per year per child, but Tsoukalas plans to offer free trial memberships through the end of the year so youths can try it out at no cost.
"The fee is a minimum investment that we want the kids to make to feel like they belong and to have joined something. The idea isn’t to make money but for them to have ownership," he said.
The building will have a game room, computer lab, teen center, arts and crafts room, a multipurpose room and a small kitchen for making snacks.
Tsoukalas plans to hire 10 to 12 people, with four of them full-time and the rest part-time.
"We’re excited that we’re finally under construction. They’re doing the demolition part now. That’s also important for the donors to see that we’re actually getting started so they can see there’s a return on the money they gave us," he said.
Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.
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