Nonprofit leader reflects on year of growth

Mandy Anderson was eight months pregnant when she took over as the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country last winter.

In the year since she assumed the role, Anderson has expanded the nonprofit, and her family. It’s been a busy but fruitful 12 months for the young mother.

“It’s been a journey,” she reflected. “It’s rewarding and challenging.”

Anderson got involved with the local nonprofit three years ago.

Before moving to the Flathead, Anderson earned a master’s degree in public administration and worked with the United Way in Wyoming.

After she relocated farther north, Anderson said she effectively carved out a new position for herself with the local Boys and Girls Club. She became the Boys and Girls Club’s first director of development in 2019.

When the pandemic led the former director, Cindy Hooker, to move closer to her family in Florida, Anderson’s go-getter attitude led the nonprofit board to select her for its interim director.

After a standard application process, Anderson remained the top choice to take on permanent leadership of the Boys and Girls Club.

That was 365 eventful days ago.

SINCE BECOMING executive director, Anderson has racked up leadership accolades, steered the organization through the Covid-19 pandemic and reinstituted a Boys and Girls clubhouse in Evergreen.

“It was a lot,” Anderson reflected as she thought back over her early tenure in the position.

The Boys and Girls Club provides after-school programming to students of all ages in Columbia Falls and Evergreen, with different focus areas centering on educational and life skills. Everything from eating a snack, to learning to sew, to operating a drone falls under the umbrella of the Boys and Girls Club.

Therefore, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put Anderson and her colleagues into a tough spot.

They pushed to reopen the Columbia Falls clubhouse as early as it was safe to do so, and they managed to keep all of the organization’s staff on board even when schools were closed.

Students and staff kept busy by transitioning to virtual programming. Anderson’s team figured out ways to engage students in simple activities they could find in their homes, such as a competition to see who could create the most cushioned cradle to drop an egg into.

“They became really creative…I have a rock star staff,” Anderson gushed.

ANDERSON WASN’T satisfied merely serving the Columbia Falls community, however. She was determined to reintegrate the Boys and Girls Club into Evergreen, where the nonprofit previously operated before financial trouble forced it to withdraw.

Anderson was able to bring the Evergreen arm back to life through partnerships. She joined forces with Psalm 91 Ministries to lease space from that organization, instead of going the traditional route of owning the clubhouse outright.

To make it work, Anderson also put federal funding to use, buying two vans to transport students from school to the clubhouse.

Now, the Boys and Girls Club serves between 45 and 50 children after every school day.

For Anderson, expansion isn’t the only goal. She wants to make sure the club stays sustainable in Evergreen, so the organization doesn’t have to pull out of the community again. Right now, she said it’s a top priority to guarantee the Evergreen area’s future for the next few years before she looks to possibly grow into other areas.

Nonetheless, Anderson does see other expansion opportunities in her long-range planning.

The Boys and Girls Club is in the process of acquiring a new property in Columbia Falls, because the facilities there have become totally overrun with more than 60 students across elementary school, junior high and high school.

The details for the new clubhouse are still being worked out, but Anderson is confident it won’t be long before local schoolchildren can utilize the new space.

After that, she said she’s eyeing possibilities for Kalispell and Kila. With the recent population growth in the Flathead Valley, the need for after-school programming is only increasing, she pointed out.

FOR ANDERSON, the key to an effective organization lies in finding balance. Since her days as interim director, she has set out ambitious goals for the club, but she also repeatedly stresses the need to avoid putting the cart before the horse.

The Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country is a nonprofit that’s been around for two decades, she noted, so Anderson wants to make sure her ideas improve the experience in the program without enacting too much change too quickly.

As a community leader, an administration professional and the mother of daughters ages 4 and 1, Anderson believes she’s naturally suited to the balancing act.

To learn more about the Boys and Girls Club of Glacier Country, including the club’s annual Dueling Pianos event on New Year’s Eve, visit bgcglacier.org.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at 406-758-4459 or bserbin@dailyinterlake.com.