Lynn Girls and Boys Club hopes for $10M expansion

LYNN – The Boys and Girls Club of Lynn’s executive director said the next three months will be crucial in determining if a $10 million plan to significantly expand the Club’s North Common Street building is doable.”We’re in the infancy of a capital campaign to build on this site,” Robert “Obie” Barker said.The plan calls for preserving the Club’s 90-year-old facade facing Lynn Common, but most of the existing 32,000 square foot building extending to Franklin Street will be replaced with 43,000 square feet housing a new swimming pool, gymnasium as well as program space and expanded day care space.Barker said the project has been in the planning stage for a year and a construction time frame has yet to be set.”We’re meeting with some large contributors over the next few months,” Barker said.The expansion plan is aimed at boosting membership to 450 children and doubling day care enrollment. He said 275 to 300 elementary school-age children attend Boys and Girls programs on weekdays and another 62 children are enrolled in the Club’s day care site.”If we could see 450 a day, that would put a big notch in the community. There is a constant need for structured care,” Barker said.Founded in 1889 initially as an after-school program for boys, the Boys and Girls Club operated out of several locations before purchasing its current from the Knights of Columbus in 1931 for $90,000.Barker said a fund-raising campaign launched by the Item in 1937 helped raised $50,000 to pay for building renovations. The Club’s current appearance reflects its history, with a stone fireplace the centerpiece in the Club meeting room and an antiquated turnstile controlling access into the building.”People had the foresight to preserve the history. Things haven’t changed really – there’s still a struggle to raise money for the kids,” Barker said.He said the expansion plan will parallel efforts to bring more middle school students into the Club. The plans calls for providing a separate entrance for the day care center and a modern building front facing Franklin.The Club is one of 4,000 Boys and Girls Clubs across the country and eight out of 10 children attending the Lynn club, according to informational literature, “are living in poverty.” Three-quarters of the children are minorities and more than half live in single-parent households.Children eight to 18 years old attend the Club with membership rates for a school year ranging from $10 to $40.Barker said one of the newest challenges facing Club workers is helping children “get out from behind their smart phones and computers.””Kids are losing their people skills,” he said.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].