Published October 2004

Boys & Girls Clubs: safe, fun place for kids
In recent years, group has expanded reach into Snohomish, Lake Stevens

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Bill Tsoukalas remembers his introduction to the Boys & Girls Club. He was growing up in Seattle at the time, the oldest child of a blue-collar family.

“I got my knock on the door from a coach to get involved with baseball,” Tsoukalas said.

Photo courtesy of Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County Arts and crafts programs (above), athletics and homework help are among the activities to be found at local Boys & Girls Clubs.

So he got involved with the Boys & Girls Club team, made friends and connected with a positive adult role model. He also learned how to play baseball, which, incidentally, ended up paying his way through college.

That was many years ago, but Tsoukalas has never forgotten what the Boys & Girls Club did for him as a child. And as executive director of Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, he works to provide that same positive experience for children through the organization’s 12 clubs and 17 extension sites — 15 in area schools and two in apartment complexes.

To do that, the nonprofit organization relies on partnerships — partnerships with the Tulalip Tribes, the county, area cities, school districts and businesses — to leverage its funds in serving the more than 12,500 Snohomish County children and teen-agers who are Boys & Girls Club members.

Help from the Verizon Foundation and the Everett AquaSox, for instance, has in the past enabled area Boys & Girls Clubs to participate in the Governor’s Summer Reading Challenge, which encourages children to read for 20 minutes a day. A donation from the Verizon Foundation funded books as well as incentives to run the program, while game tickets supplied by the Everett AquaSox rewarded club members who had read for 15 hours during the summer.

Over the years, such partnerships have helped the youth organization leverage its budget to provide meals or snacks for 1,100 children a day, as well as homework help, technology labs, libraries, arts and crafts, and athletics, among other programs.

All that adds up to just $350 per child per year — the amount community members can donate to sponsor a child, Tsoukalas said.

“We think that’s a pretty good return on a donor’s investment,” he said.

From the parental standpoint, a Boys & Girls Club is a good place for their kids, Tsoukalas said, a safe place with positive adult role models and fun programs. And, with membership dues just $20 a year (though no child is turned away for financial reasons), it’s a good bargain, too.

During the past two years, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County worked to expand its reach to more children, beginning in July 2002 with a $2.45 million capital campaign to add Snohomish and Lake Stevens clubs.

At the time, Tsoukalas noted the challenge in raising the funds, given the slow economy. But a little over a year later, in September 2003, the Snohomish Boys & Girls Club opened. And this past September, the Lake Stevens Boys & Girls Club celebrated its grand opening, with its gym scheduled to open this winter, said Joy Ingram, director of development for the countywide program.

The organization also has added teen centers to its Alderwood and north Everett locations, Ingram said. Future plans call for renovation of the Granite Falls Boys & Girls Club, scheduled to be completed in 2005, and the addition of a teen center and multipurpose room at the Monroe Boys & Girls Club.

For more information on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Snohomish County, call 425-258-2436 or visit www.bgcsnoco.org on the Web.

Back to the top/Reaching Out Main Menu