Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana is quickly making progress on its new location in Valparaiso. Set to open in June of this year, the new Valpo Club will have many new amenities and accessories, all designed with the area’s youth in mind.
The new Valpo Club, located at 708 Evans Avenue, broke ground last spring. Ryan Smiley, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana, said this location was chosen because of its proximity to many central locations in the city, including Fairgrounds Park and the Valparaiso School Corporation’s Bus Barn. The park is easily accessible through its many walkways, bikeways, and bus stops, and the bus barn allows students to be dropped off right after school.
The new building will feature Boys & Girls Clubs staples like games rooms, dedicated homework rooms, a conference room and multipurpose room. It will also have a variety of new areas and resources for children to access, catering to a large range of interests and activities.
“We're going to have two full size gymnasiums that will have basketball and volleyball capabilities,” Smiley said. “They will be full size, high school regulation courts. There’s a two-story rock-climbing wall, STEM lab, teaching kitchen, concession stands and cafeteria. And we're going to have an Exergaming fitness studio and a digital music recording studio, as well as dedicated rooms for teens and tweens.”
As an added bonus, the new Club sits on eight acres of green space.
Smiley said moving the Valpo Club was the best plan of action to make sure it continues to meet the needs of kids in the community today. The current location is at The Gardner School, the first ever school built in Valparaiso back in 1898. While the building has served the Clubs well, its old age has prompted many timely maintenance projects and repairs, making it harder to upkeep. Building a new location allowed the Clubs to put more focus back on the programs while adding more room for up-to-date and improved facilities.
Smiley is beyond thankful for the community’s help in getting the new building up and running.
“This is a brand new, 37,000-square-foot facility,” Smiley said. “It's a $9 million capital investment that is 100% privately funded. To date, our community has generously contributed $8,200,000, so we are 90% to our goal. Considering the landscape we’re in with this pandemic, and given the current economy and the market, the community support has just been truly inspiring.”
Smiley also noted that the new building came about through a property exchange with Urschel Development Corporation. Dan Marchetti, chief financial officer (CFO) for Urschel Laboratories, sits on the Clubs’ board and helped bring this project to fruition.
“Urschel Development Corporation has been an incredible supporter and partner for Boys & Girls Clubs for many, many years. The Urschel family and corporation have been very generous in our community and supporting nonprofits, but especially Boys & Girls Clubs,” Smiley said. “They have an employee who is a member of our board. When we went through our due diligence process, deciding what the future development looks like, that’s where the conversation started. One thing led to another and, because of our incredible relationship and
partnership, it really just made sense in regard to our mission and business for the two agencies to exchange the properties.”
Numerous companies and individuals have stepped forward with donations to make this possible, many of which have been board members or former Club kids. All in all, almost 230 donors have helped out with this project.
“Just seeing that generosity and being able to raise that amount of money in this environment right now is amazing, and watching the walls go up just really kind of brings it all together,” Smiley said.
Smiley said Boys & Girls Clubs is still accepting donations, and all donations, regardless of amount, are greatly appreciated. For anyone interested, donations can be made at the link here.
For more information on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana, visit its website at www.bgcgreaternwi.org.
