Colossal Mukilteo club: 18,000 square feet for 3,000 youths
Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 11, 2018
MUKILTEO — Think of it like a couple getting married or having a baby.
There’s a long list of things needed to furnish the home.
In this case, it’s an 18,000-square-foot space for some 3,000 youths.
A gift registry of sorts has been set up for the new Mukilteo Boys & Girls Club, which is slated to open in mid-December.
Mukilteo doesn’t have a Chris Pratt, like the Lake Stevens Boys & Girls Club had — a star-fueled raffle raised $500,000 for the organization’s new center there in 2017.
The Mukilteo club is seeking sponsors to pitch in a few bucks or a few thousand.
Items are needed in every room. These include a teen room, community room, games room, gym and kitchen.
Donors can find options to fit their wallets and interests.
“Someone can say, ‘I’m really interested in STEM and want to help out here,’” said Mike Neumeister, an area director for Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, referring to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. “Or a pool table or basketballs or volleyball nets.”
If $2,500 for bleachers or $1,000 for a computer is not in your budget, how about $150 for soccer balls?
The building is locked, but tours by appointment are available for people wanting to see the club, which is getting finishing touches to its floors and walls.
On a recent morning, a group of Windermere real estate brokers toured the place, eyeing the gym.
“We’re hoping to get the scoreboard sponsored by Windermere,” broker Mike Miller said. “People are always going to look up as the score changes. Think how many games are here.”
The new gym alone is larger than the original club, which opened in 1961 and is 5,000 square feet.
It has been housed in a 1925 building at the end of a side street at 1134 Second St. near the waterfront in the Old Town area.
The building needs costly repairs and is too small for today’s demands.
The new site is centrally located across the street from the YMCA and has outdoor athletic fields.
“It’s a hub of the community. The police station, the fire station, three schools, it’s all right here,” Neumeister said. “You don’t have to live in the city to use the club.”
The club will continue to offer childcare programs at schools. It also will be open longer hours and offer more summer camps than it has at the current location, which has about 1,900 members. Memberships are $30 a year.
“We’re looking at having 3,000 kids in the community use this space,” Neumeister said. “The goal is to open it before winter break.”
Andrea Brown: abrown@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3443. Twitter @reporterbrown.
Tour the club
For tours and donations: 425-315-7086 or ksalem@bgcsc.org
