During the anniversary celebration, there will be activities for children of all ages, including a bounce house, a performance by Kids Club members, food, crafts, and music. Ten prizes will be raffled off at 5:45 p.m. The Club especially encourages alumni of Kids Club, now in the hundreds, to make a return visit during the anniversary celebration.
The roots of Willits Kids Club actually go back to 1999, when a group of Willits parents and teachers first gathered to discuss the horrifying shootings that took place at Columbine High School in April of that year. At several community meetings, parents discussed how youth violence could be prevented by providing more guidance and recreation opportunities for local youth. A core group of parents decided to look into the possibility of opening a Boys and Girls Club in Willits, and two of the sixteen people who attended the first organizational meeting on October 28, 1999, still sit on the board of directors of Willits Kids Club today
Although several years later, the board decided to become an independent youth organization called “Willits Kids Club, Inc.,” its early efforts to work with Boys & Girls Clubs of America left board members with some sustaining images, including a BGCA field representative standing on the empty field where the Kids Club youth center now stands and singing an impromptu acapella solo to the gathering of surprised board members.
“I thought of that moment many times during the ten-year struggle to get the Club built,” said board member Karen Oslund. “She was sort of giving us a blessing for what we were trying to do, by singing us an inspirational song, standing on the spot where we wanted to build our youth center. It was a strange thing for her to do and we were all a little taken aback at that time, but looking back, it seems fitting.”
The Club now occupies a 5000 square-foot youth center next to Blosser Lane School and operates after school programs that serve up to 140 kids per day from kindergarten through 8th grade. Several Kids Club “alumni” now work for the Club as youth assistants after school and in the summer day camp program. The Club has yoga, music, art, interest clubs, cooking, and its very own resident boa constrictor—but the most important thing it provides its members is a safe place to play, learn, and grow—the club’s mission from its earliest days.
“Willits Kids Club is one of the best things going in Willits,” said Tina Stanley, site coordinator for the middle school program. “It gives a place for kids to go and have fun and be safe. It's great for me to be able to spend time with them. They are our biggest asset in this town.” |
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The Club’s executive director, Kris Wagner, has been with Kids Club since its beginning in March 2001, and says, “It’s been a privilege to work with this organization for ten years and see it evolve into what it is now.” The Club is now offering parenting classes in both English and Spanish to club members’ parents and has an extensive nutrition education program through a partnership with North Coast Opportunities. The Club offers bilingual tutoring and has worked closely with Nuestra Alianza for many years.
Although the road to getting the Club built could be described, in a vast understatement, as “a long, hard slog,” the end results have been satisfying all around. The youth center itself is beginning to fill the role of a community hub for youth, as more local groups discover it is available for events such as Little League Registration. A brownie troop also calls the Kids Club home, and the Club has an agreement with Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Mendocino County to offer one-on-one mentoring of children in need of a higher level of guidance. A recent grant award from the State of California will allow the Club to construct a park and playground on the grounds of the Club, which will be available to local children and families for play, picnics, and exploration.
What will the next ten years bring to Kids Club? Site coordinator Laura Paeyeneers has seen a shift in the reasons families come to Kid Club, “It used to be families would enroll when they had a childcare need. To go along with that we were constantly recruiting new students. Now a large portion of our enrollment comes from families interested in the actual program. They may not even have a need for childcare. The kids just hear about all the fun stuff happening at Kids Club and want to come!”
The primary goal of Willits Kids Club has always been youth guidance. Very low turnover of Kids Club staff over the years means that adult staff members get to know each child well and are able to watch the child grow and change from early childhood through adolescence. “In days where kids are inundated with media and their own experiences are far too advanced for their maturity level, it is so refreshing to see children playing at the appropriate level,” says site coordinator Kristen Ferrante. “I love to see the 5th graders playing together on the equipment and rolling around in the wood chips. After all, they are only ten!”
With good luck and continued hard work, Kids Club will be a “safe place to play” for many more years to come.
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