The 60-year-old Boys and Girls Clubs of Story County organization broke ground on its 7,500-square-foot expansion Friday, April 5, fielding a host of staff, volunteers, and business officials at its South Fifth Street facility in Ames.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Story County development director Judge Johnston called it a “glorious day.”
“It’s a historical day in this book of chapters for the Boys and Girls Clubs for more than 60 years in this community,” he said.
The expansion will be added onto the south side of the existing facility by Woodruff Construction, who helped present Friday’s program.
The project, which drew support from area nonprofits, local businesses and the Ames Community School District, will provide the Boys and Girls Clubs with the ability to welcome significantly more children throughout the week.
“It will allow us to serve up to 165 kids a day to increase our capacity,” he said.
Ryan Santi, CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Story County, said the organization’s success is due to the devotion of the staff and volunteers.
They’ve seen attendance skyrocket in recent years, which was a major contributor to the expansion project.
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Clubs will move to Ames Center during construction
Support from the Ames school district has been crucial to the Boys and Girls Clubs, which will move to another location during construction.
The temporary Boys and Girls Club will be stationed in the gym of the Ames Center. The Ames Center is located in the former Beloit Residential Treatment Center on Northwestern Avenue, known as the Ames Multi-Purpose Educational Services Center.
“We’re not closing,” Santi said. “Without (Ames Superintendent) Dr. Lawson’s leadership in helping us get that done, we may have had to close for the next 12 months, which would have been devastating to the community,”
The Boys and Girls Club project is being financed by a variety of donations and grants, including an Iowa Economic Development Authority grant.
Key donors include the Burke Family Foundation and the Four Sisters Foundation.
“We’ve been in the Ames community for 61 years this summer, and this project will hopefully tee up the next generation for the next 25 years,” said Tyler Farner, board president of Boys and Girls Clubs of Story County.
Character building and hot meals are cornerstones
“We do character building here every single day,” Santi said.
He expects they’ll add 400 program sessions a year once construction is complete. The expansion will be home to a larger arts-and-crafts area, more classrooms, a multipurpose room, and a large cafeteria.
One of the Boys and Girls Club’s most popular classes is “Let’s Cook,” which teaches kids how to budget, shop for, and cook simple meals and snacks.
The Boys and Girls Clubs also offers hot meals, serving 15,000 last year.
“It’s one of the biggest impacts that will come from this new building,” Santi said. “We’ll serve 30,000 hot meals to kids over 12 months.
“It’s so much easier to get a kid to learn something about character when their belly is full.”
Reynolds Cramer, CEO of Fareway Stores, has voiced his personal support along with his wife, Sheila. He also pledged to enlist Fareway as a corporate partner.
“We live in a crazy world,” Cramer said. “Today more than ever, our youth needs our support, and that’s why it’s so easy to align with the mission of Boys and Girls Clubs.”
Cramer said the Boys and Girls Clubs of Story County offers a chance for kids to learn, mature, grow, and be a part of a community.
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‘Momentous day’ for thriving community
Dan Culhane, president and CEO of the Ames Chamber of Commerce, called last week’s groundbreaking a “momentous day.”
He said the project exemplifies why Ames is such a thriving community.
Ames will break ground on the new Fitch Indoor Family Aquatic Center in a few weeks as well.
“That is also a very important project in our community, and that’s what I’m talking about when I talk about momentum and velocity of good things going on in the community,” Culhane said. “These types of projects differentiate us from other communities.”
Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rlawless@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Boys and Girls Clubs breaks ground on $7 million expansion in Ames