By Traci Bishop
The Boys and Girls Club has been a staple in the Carbon County area since 2010, providing a safe and secure place for teens to go as an after-school program. Up until this point, it was only available for teens, but with a recent move and growth in finances, the club has been able to now open its services to children as well.
With immense help from the community and the grants available at the Department of Workforce Services, the club has been able to move to the old Carbon Recreation building, where it can offer many more programs for children and teens to enjoy and grow with.
“The county has been very helpful,” Josie Luke, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Carbon County, said. “They support our mission and believe what we are doing.”
Luke has been working tirelessly along with Amy Hoffman, Stella Smith and Janell Fiack to make sure that they are ready to provide the youth with an excellent and fulfilling experience. They have been able to grow from a staff of three to a current staff of eight, and when business really gets rolling, they plan on expanding further to a staff of ten.
The goal of the Boys and Girls Club is to help children and teens learn to be self sufficient; as their mission statement states, they wish “to inspire youth to reach their full potential as successful, compassionate and responsible citizens.”
The club will have a “Power Hour,” which will be dedicated to homework and tutoring. They also have a computer room and a kitchen, where the teens and children in the program can be taught how to cook simple meals for themselves.
One of the things that has surprised the women in the staff the most is how much the teens in the program have been so willing to participate in the tasks it takes to move to the new building and get things started. Luke explained that the teens have stepped up and taken responsibility in assisting and the staff believes they couldn’t have done it without them.
“They truly inspired us to keep going more than anything.” said Janell Fiack, the club’s youth board leader.
Luke and the other women are very excited to open the Boys and Girls club for business on Tuesday, Sept. 8. The hours are 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Monday due to the local schools having early release on that day. The club is now located at the old Carbon Recreation building at 300 East 200 South in Price. To sign your children and teens up, you can call the club at (435) 637-6066. The best hours to call are between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Interested parties can also stop in the club anytime or have an application sent to their email. Children are able to sign up at anytime during the year for a $20 fee. However, scholarships are available to families that need them.
