Friday morning’s gathering at the St. Cloud Marina banquet hall was a testament to all the work the Boys & Girls Clubs do in the community.
Osceola County’s only current Boys & Girls Club is the thriving Tupperware Brands club location on Dyer Boulevard in Kissimmee, but St. Cloud community leaders are working to change that.
Lifelong residents Raylynne Ketchum and Robert Bass have been working to get a club in St. Cloud for a couple years now. The efforts have been inching forward.
They have a building in place — a former Osceola School District curriculum development office at 10th Street and Virginia Avenue, across from Cannery Park.
“I don’t know if we found the building, or the building found us,” Bass said of the 2,500 square foot facility.
They have the backing of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida. Now they need the financial backing. Ketchum said Friday that the club requires three years of operating expenses to open — that comes to $600,000. Ketchum said prior efforts have raised $175,000 of that. At Friday’s event, they hoped to make a dent in the rest.
Bass said that, with the right funding push, the club could open in the spring.
“The brand speaks for itself, offering support and mentorship to help build responsible adults. We need that in the city,” he said. “Everybody has found St. Cloud.”
Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida President Gary Cain reminded Friday’s attendees that clubs are mostly funded through philanthropy outside a few smaller grants. He is a product of the clubs himself as a youth, and called supporting the clubs, “A chance to love a child who isn’t yours.”
“I didn’t go in there to learn leadership or get my character changed, or build an academic foundation, I went to get my mother off my back,” he said. “They were glad I was there, they knew my name.”
For the uninitiated, The Boys & Girls Clubs transcend any perception of a “day care center.” Clubs offer a wide range of benefits to those ages 6-18: homework help, classes like art and other interactive life skills programs in learning centers, technology labs, and college and career insight programs for teens and high-schoolers.
Cain said it can provide any of the structure lacking in the home, like in his upbringing — something of great need in the last two years.
“I see children who really need help,” he said. “The pandemic has wrought more damage on them than anything I’ve ever seen.”
Ketchum said the chance to be part of opening a new Boys & Girls Club is one that could be life-changing for the youth of St. Cloud.
“We have the opportunity to help kids. We could have formed some club of our own in the city, but the Boys & Girls Clubs have done it, they have a heart for children,” she said.
“One of their key phrases is, ‘Every child is endowed with God-given potential.’”
