Boys & Girls Club off life support

La Conner’s Boys & Girls Club, threatened with closing down at the end of the school year in June, has a new lease on life.

Last Thursday 27 people gathered at the Waterfront Cafe in La Conner to figure out a plan to sustain the club.

Over free breakfast donated by Waterfront Cafe owner Guy Vallee, the attendees heard some very good news:

A local resident, who insists on remaining anonymous, has made a very generous donation spanning the next five years and challenges the rest of the community to pitch in.

While there is still a need for the La Conner community to provide additional funding each year, the gift makes a big dent in the $30,000 that must be raised each year.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Skagit County Executive Director Ron McHenry said he could not say the amount of the gift or identify the giver. And although the “beans” were accidentally spilled to this newspaper, we’ve promised not to tell.

Local resident Jennifer Fix, who is a professional fundraiser, jumped on board to help find support for the club, which has been a boon to working parents since it opened in 1999.

By the close of the meeting, there were thousands more dollars pledged to the club’s coffers. Former club board member Mike Crawford, La Conner Schools Supt. Tim Bruce, banker Madeline Roozen and Methodist Pastor Marcella Baker each pledged $1,000.

Also, Bruce said since the club is located on school property, it could cut out its phone and Internet bills by hooking into the school’s system. McHenry estimated the savings at about $3,000 per year.

La Conner resident Dick Nord, who led the meeting, promised to attend Thursday’s meeting of the club’s board and get a reprieve for the La Conner club, which is one of four in the county.

Clubs in Sedro-Woolley, Mount Vernon, and Anacortes are much larger than the La Conner club.

And with attendance of 50 to 60 kids each week, La Conner has been the club most heavily subsidized by the other larger clubs. To be self-supporting, La Conner must generate about $50,000 in local support each year.

Before last week, the local support was in the neighborhood of $20,000, leaving a big gap.

Though the gap is smaller now, the local fundraising effort has just begun.

The club’s Dinner with Friends is scheduled for Nov. 16, at Maple Hall, with ticket prices and details to be announced soon.