New BG Club breaks ground in Polson
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POLSON – The Boys and Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County broke ground on a new clubhouse on Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 10.
The facility will be located across the street from the Polson Middle School on the corner of 17th Avenue West and 2nd Street West.
The club’s executive director Aric Cooksley spoke at the ceremony and called the new club building a “tremendous upgrade from where we have been for the last eight or nine years.”
The club has been located in the basement of St. Andrews Episcopal Church for more than eight years with limited space, and children wanting to attend the club have been put on a waiting list during that time.
Club officials have been pursuing the goal of building a new clubhouse in Polson for the past three years and raised over $4.6 million of the $5 million required to finish the project, according to a press release.
The funding came from a mix of private donations and corporate sponsorships. During Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony, representatives from the Greater Polson Community Foundation donated $50,000 towards the project.
The new facility will include a youth center for children in grades one to six, a teen center for grades seven to 12, an art center, a music room, a commercial-style kitchen and a gymnasium. The club has provided programs and activates for generations of local kids and will have the capacity to help even more with the new space with attendance increasing from 40 children per day to 200. The new club will also provide desperately needed multipurpose spaces for other community events.
Cooksley closed the gathering by emphasizing and recognizing the impact of the donators and volunteers: “So many of you have been instrumental in making this project a reality, whether it was with your time, your talent, your money or influence. I want to thank you for making this a reality. This project doesn’t happen without a very generous and committed community.”
To learn more about sponsoring, volunteering or becoming involved, visit www.flatheadbgc.org or contact Cooksley at hope@ronan.net or 406-528-5007.
