Karina Tejada, Isis Henry, Anola Henderson and Gianni Spottswood show the family that grows while being a part of the Boys and Girls Club on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. (Staff photo by Brenna Elmore)
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Durham not only provides the Durham community with the care its children need, but also now is reaching a helping hand to the Chapel Hill community.
Up until recently, the small Chapel Hill club at Northside Elementary was under the umbrella of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Eastern Piedmont. When that Eastern Piedmont umbrella disbanded, the club was left to fend for itself, said Benay Hicks, the resource development director for the Greater Durham club.
Hicks said the Chapel Hill branch was barely functioning since January of this year. They needed someone to take it over, to guide it into the future and to hopefully assist as many children as possible in reaching their potential.
In the middle of a bustling afternoon at the Greater Durham club, Taia Lunsford takes a moment to smile amidst the after-school chaos of the gym around her on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. (Staff photo by Brenna Elmore)
While the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Durham, formerly known as the John Avery Boys & Girls Club, serves 130 children per day, Hicks said the club at Northside Elementary only serves about 30 students.
“It seemed to make sense that a Boys and Girls Club of Durham and Orange Counties would kind of fit with what Durham and Chapel Hill have always been to each other,” she said.
According to the community impact director of the Chapel Hill branch, Brittney L. Goldston, Durham’s long experience and resources are proving to be a great role model for the Northside Elementary club.
Goldston said she would love to add a new location in order to bring more children into the program, but she thinks the school is still a perfect place to meet, since the teachers are right down the hall and it eases the issue of transportation for the students that attend Northside.
A parent of the Greater Durham club, Kimya Swann, said, “The expansion is definitely a good thing. The children get to meet and interact with other children from a different county.”
The program director at Greater Durham, Regina Diaz, echoed that statement: “I am excited about this opportunity to expand our club, earn additional resources and serve more youth!”
This expansion will lead to strengthened infrastructure and increased programming in order to serve even more youth within both communities, Hicks said about the merge. Without the Boys and Girls Club, many students would not have the opportunities they have received because of the program.
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Durham is currently working on figuring out what the needs are in Chapel Hill and how to properly take care of the kids, but according to Hicks the future seems bright for each club.
In fact, by the beginning of 2017, the “Boys & Girls Clubs of Durham and Orange Counties” will be the official title of the two branches according to the updated website for the two clubs. Together they will follow the mission statement put in place by the Boys and Girls Club of America: “To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.”