The future of the South Everett Youth and Community Center, which shut its doors in January, remains in question, even as the Boys &Girls Club of Snohomish County prepares to reopen it this fall.
The community center, which opened in 1929, served up to 500 low-income and minority youths each year.
Meanwhile, a boxing program kept alive by volunteers after the rest of the center’s programs were shut down earlier this year is looking for a new home.
A community meeting will be held in early September to discuss the programs offered at the center, including whether boxing will be offered there, said Bill Tsoukalas, director of the local Boys &Girls clubs.
Debt forced the community center to close.
The Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County took over the building at 7628 Cascade Drive in June. A memo that spells out the takeover says the organization must assume up to $35,000 of the center’s debt.
It also calls for the Boys &Girls Clubs to show a good-faith effort to allow the boxing program to continue.
Ron Carr, a volunteer coach for 10 years, runs the boxing program through the Police Athletic League. He said the building’s locks were changed before the coaches were notified.
“I can’t have all these kids showing up, and the building is locked,” Carr said. “We owe these kids answers … Are you planning on keeping us or not?”
Kids as young as 7 and adults up to age 30 participated in the boxing program, he said.
“We try to provide structure and wholesomeness to these children’s lives,” Carr said. “Whether they become world champ or not, we want them to be quality citizens.”
Tsoukalas said the locks were changed weeks ago, “which is standard practice when taking over a new facility.”
“What we discovered is there were people using the building we weren’t aware of,” he said. “For control and liability purposes, we had to rekey the building.”
Tsoukalas said the organization promised to make a good-faith effort to keep boxing as part of the programs it offers, and it will.
“Our goal is to reopen the building around the first of October. Right now, everything’s on the table still, including boxing,” he said.
Meanwhile, Carr said he’s contacting other area organizations, trying to find a place where he can set up a 20-square-foot boxing ring, since the program’s future at the community center is uncertain.
“This is the first round,” he said. “We’ll proceed.”
Tsoukalas said he wants to hear what programs the community would like to have at the center, boxing or otherwise.
“We don’t want to put something out there that kids aren’t interested in,” he said. “We want to put it to the highest and best use that reaches the most ids.”
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
For more information
For information on the South Everett Youth and Community Center or to comment on future programs, call the Boys &Girls Clubs of Snohomish County at 425-258-2436.
For information on the boxing program, or if you know of an organization that might like to donate space for it, call Ron Carr at 425-265-0766.
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