Board approves $50K for Boys and Girls Club

Last night the Village of Carpentersville Board voted 4-2 to approve a $50,000 grant to the Boys and Girls Club.

Trustees Sigwalt and Teeter voted “No” because it didn’t happen to be a line item in this year’s budget.

Hmmm … neither was the work for Kimball Farms that they voted for earlier this year …

Maybe there was some hope that the group could attempt to win the funds at that Indian casino Sigwalt proposed last meeting.

Boys & Girls Club seeks, deserves help

The Boys & Girls Club of Carpentersville was before the Audit & Finance Commission Thursday night to petition for Village support in the amount of $75,000.

The local Boys & Girls Club is facing a $250,000, or 70 percent, cut in federal grant money. Club board member and former Carpentersville Trustee Russ Morehead told commissioners that unless it received $75,000 from Carpentersville and the Dundee Township Park District, the club faces cutting programs and perhaps closing the doors to some of its three sites here. The club offers tutoring, vocational training and recreational programs to 1,200 student members, mainly from Carpentersville.

Residents of Carpentersville have worried regularly about gang activity in their town and the Boys & Girls Club provides support and options for those who otherwise might fall in with gangs.

[Club Executive Director Mike Berger] said by keeping students off the street, the club actually provided a benefit to the village’s police budget. He pointed to the gang-related shootings that have plagued the village this summer.

“We see gangs, we see them in the community,” he told the commissioners. “Kids join gangs because they want to belong and want someone to care for them. The gangs will be there for them in the short run, but not down the road. The Boys & Girls Club is always there for them.”

Club representatives also explained to the Board that they were unaware of the availability of grant money from the Grand Victoria Casino.

“If we had known there was $100,000 there, we wouldn’t have turned our back on it,” Berger said. “We’ll make sure we do it next year.”

Unfortunately, funds are not in this year’s budget, and there does not appear to be much wiggle room for finding it.  However, the Commission did say that it would do what it could to look at the budget again to look for any available funds.

My view on this is that it is a worthy cause in the Village that directly impacts all of the residents and addresses locally their concerns.  As such, it would be good for members of the community to do what they can to reach out, dig in and look for any available funds in their own budgets to keep the Club programs from being cut or scaled back.  If you want something good out, you have to put something in.
[Read the full article in the Courier-News]