Club provides fun, learning opportunities

Amanda Wagner was looking for more opportunities for her children when she enrolled them in Boys and Girls Clubs programs several years ago, but she’s now the roller rink manager and has found that the organization has enriched all their lives.

“Boys and Girls Club has been a huge part of raising my children,” says Wagner, who was a stay-at-home mom for seven years before going to work at the Boys and Girls Clubs 2 1/2 years ago. She’s the mother of 10 children who range in age from 6 to 17, including four she has adopted.

Boys and Girls Clubs has a wide variety of programs for children ages 6 to 14, including theater and fine arts, arts and crafts, photography and health and fitness. More than 70 children are signed up for after-school programs, receiving individual help with homework, reading, exercise and free and organized play.

“The overall program is fantastic for children,” she said.

The mission of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America is “to inspire and enable all our young people to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.”

Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country is just one of the many agencies and services that benefit from the local United Way campaign, which continues through Dec. 31.

The campaign as of late last week had raised $331,500, or 39 percent of the goal of $850,000.

The theme of the 2009 campaign is “Touch a Life.” Last year, United Way member agencies helped nearly 57,000 people in need. Ninety-nine percent of all money raised stays in local communities to help local citizens.

“United Way helps so many people in the valley,” Wagner said. “I think without them we’d definitely struggle in the valley.”

Membership in the Boys and Girls Clubs costs just $5 per month, or $15 if youths use the bus that transports children daily from Evergreen Elementary and Evergreen Junior High to the center in Evergreen that includes the roller rink Wagner manages. Many of the families are low-income and depend on scholarships to pay the membership fees.

“These kids that come here are a great bunch of kids,” Wagner said. “For some of them, the skate time is the best three hours of their lives. They have hard home lives, some of them. It’s the same for the club kids. That few hours is the highlight of their day.”

The programs have benefited her own children, too. When her son Ryan was in fourth grade two years ago, help from Special Education in school and after-school tutoring at the Boys and Girls Clubs brought his math and reading skills up to his grade level.

“I think it’s because of the extra time he gets here at club,” she said of Ryan’s progress in math and reading.

Her two youngest children enrolled in the Boys and Girls Clubs for the first time this year and “it’s absolutely the highlight of their day.”

In addition to after-school programs and roller skating, Boys and Girls Clubs offers activities for families, including a Family Night with free skating and dinner about once a month.

“It’s a safe, fun place,” Wagner said. “You know your children are safe — and learning. I don’t know how you can get much better than that.”

In addition to Boys and Girls Clubs, current United Way member agencies are Big Brothers and Sisters, Boy Scouts, Eagle Transit, First Call for Help-Help Net, Flathead CARE, Flathead Food Bank, Flathead Youth Home, Girl Scouts, Head Start, Literacy Volunteers, Mental Health Crisis Line, Nurturing Center, Retired & Senior Volunteer Program, Samaritan House, Sinopah House, Special Friends Advocacy Program, Summit Independent Living Center and the Violence Free Crisis Line/Abbie Shelter.

Services of the United Way include CASA for Kids, Disaster Care Services, Leaders of Tomorrow and the United Way Volunteer Center.

The United Way also supports the following emergency food and shelter programs: Bread Basket, Community Harvest Food Bank, DOVES, Helping Hands, Hot Springs Food Pantry, Lake County Mental Health Center, Libby Food Pantry, Mission Valley Food Pantry, Neighbors in Need, Northwest Montana Veterans Food Pantry, Salvation Army Feeding Program, Thompson Falls Food Pantry and Troy Food Pantry.

Donors may choose how to donate, including cash, payroll deductions, charging to a credit card, direct billing or automatic bank transfer. Donors also may designate which member agencies or non-affiliated partner agencies or the Montana Shares Federation they want to receive their gift. For more information on the United Way campaign, call 752-7266.

Donations may be mailed to P.O. Box 7217, Kalispell, MT 59904.