Gilmer club hopes to be in Progress Road facility by January
The Boys and Girls Clubs of North Georgia (BGCNG) is moving forward with plans to relocate Gilmer County’s Three Rivers club to property on Progress Road purchased in 2018.
Faith, Hope and Charity Recycle Store Inc. donated most of the funding to purchase the 8,000-square foot building at 945 Progress Road. A building renovation fundraising campaign was started shortly thereafter, and that campaign is currently at 93 percent of its $965,000 goal.
What’s already been raised will allow for renovation work to begin so the club can relocate from its current location inside the Gilmer County Civic Center.
“We really kicked it back off in August (2020). We’re trying to get as much word out in the community as we can,” said Cassie Rasco, BGCNG development director, about moving forward with the transition.
Rasco said construction permits still have to be pulled. After that’s done, the building renovation will proceed.
The current plan is for the club to move over Christmas break and start holding afterschool programs at the Progress Road facility by January 2022.
“That’s the goal,” said Rasco.
It will be the second relocation of the Three Rivers club since the program was first offered in Gilmer County. In 2010, the club moved from a mobile classroom beside Ellijay Elementary School to the Civic Center.
The total number of program enrollees has continued to grow since then, and the new location will allow the nonprofit to serve its largest number of first to 12th grade-age children to date.
“In that facility, we can have up to 250-300 kids,” said Rasco. “We couldn’t do it without Faith, Hope and Charity. None of this would be happening without them.”
Crystal Bates, Three Rivers club director, said the local afterschool program typically serves almost 150 children in a normal year without any COVID restrictions. There’s always a waiting list for enrollment, and it’s longer than usual this year, she confirmed.
“People are going back to work and needing places for their children to go, (but) everywhere in town is full,” Bates said.
Room to grow
It was previously announced that the Civic Center space would become a Boys and Girls Club teen center following the relocation. The revised plan is for the whole club to move to the Progress Road address, which will include classrooms, a playground and indoor and outdoor fitness areas.
“When we started looking at it, we decided we were going to have to go back to the drawing board and revamp the plan. It’s a very big building, and there’s room to grow,” said Rasco.
It’s hoped that the new location will bring more teens back to the program, Rasco noted.
“We’ve lost a lot of teens over the years. Because the club in Gilmer is right there (near) the high school, there were a lot of teens who would walk down from the high school to the club. Over the last two-and a-half years or so, we’ve lost almost all of them,” she added.
High school and middle-age kids share space at the current facility, but the new location will allow more space to be devoted to specific age groups.
“There are two specifically designated rooms for teens, so those teenagers will have their own space. They will rotate with a large game room. There’s also a STEM room and an art room. There are multiple places for the kids to have their own space,” Rasco said.
Boys and Girls Clubs in Gilmer, Pickens and Fannin counties closed for almost two months during the full COVID-19 shutdown last spring. The Gilmer club’s summer program was offered after a June reopening, but in a much smaller than normal capacity, noted Rasco.
That program is being offered again this summer, but to only 50 kids as restrictions from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and for summer camps in the city are still in place. In a normal year, there would be almost 150 children enrolled in the summer program.
“I probably have 10-15 calls a day (from people) wanting to know when we’re going to open or if we’ve heard when our restrictions are going to lift. We’re super excited about the new building, and that the wheels are turning,” Bates said.