Proposed Boys & Girls Club at O’Connell seeks support
DA Scott Storey encourages donors to help fund youth program.
LAKEWOOD – An April 8 open house at O’Connell Middle School will showcase the site of what could be Jeffco’s first Boys & Girls Club.
But the goal of a safe and constructive after-school program remains about $150,000 away from reality with a May 1 fund-raising deadline looming for the proposed Boys & Girls Club, which could be the single largest factor in keeping the doors open at O’Connell Middle School.
The program could be under way as early as August, said George Valuck, who helped organize a kick-off event for the fund-raising campaign earlier this month. Valuck is executive director of the Alameda Gateway Community Association.
“I don’t have a final figure for the night, but I know we raised, just from personal checks, over $50,000,” Valuck said after the event, which raised as much as $150,000 more in pledges and commitments.
That includes another $50,000, expected to be raised through donations to collected at city events, pledged by Mayor Bob Murphy.
Valuck and Murphy are part a partnership between Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, Jeffco Public Schools, government officials, and community and business leaders who have been working since 2007 to launch a program here.
The group, organized by District Attorney Scott Storey, decided to put the program at O’Connell Middle School. O’Connell serves residents of east-central Lakewood, one of the city’s most economically challenged areas.
But two obstacles cropped up: Proponents must come up with three years of operating revenue ($850,000), and they would need to persuade Jefferson County School District officials to take O’Connell off the district’s hit-list of schools recommended for closure.
In late January Storey, Valuck and a contingent of city officials successfully lobbied the school board to spare O’Connell, announcing the pending deal with Boys & Girls Clubs to use the facility for after-school programs designed to give kids an alternative to roaming the streets.
“If abandoned, it is safe to assume O’Connell will become a safe haven for crime,” Police Chief Kevin Paletta told the Jeffco School Board at a meeting in January.
The district agreed to take O’Connell off the hit list, largely on the strength of the proposed club’s planned use of the middle school building.
And the revenue picture is looking good, as well, Valuck said.
An anonymous donor offered $500,000 in start-up funds, but the pledge is contingent on a May 1 deadline for the community to come up with the remaining $350,000.
Last week’s kick-off event at Belmar went a long way toward meeting that goal.
“The way I look at it, we’ve got about $700,000 committed,” Valuck said. “I sure feel a lot better” about reaching the goal.
And the remaining $150,000 or so?
“ Now we are in the phase where we have to reach the general public, get individuals involved and make it a total community campaign to get this done,” Valuck said. “The bottom line is $150,000 by May 1.”
To donate, make checks payable to Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver, 2017 W. 9th Ave., Denver, Colo., 80204. Be sure to write “Jefferson County” on the check to ensure it is used for the O’Connell program.
“This is a way to front-load these kids with positive experiences so that we don’t have to be challenged later on in the courts and in other ways,” Valuck said. “We can really do something that affects the lives of these low-income students and their families.”
The April 8 Open House at the school, 1275 S. Teller St., will give folks a chance to see how the program provides children and teens with development activities during their after school hours. It will be from 5 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
