MOSES LAKE - The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin got a step closer to a new home, thanks to a donation from a group formed a quarter-century ago to build new football and sports fields.

The donation of $33,000 on Thursday was the final act for the Moses Lake Sports Complex association, which was formed in 1987. The board members wanted the remaining money to be spent on youth activities, said Dave Dollarhide, the current president.

The association purchased land behind Moses Lake High School and started excavation for a football stadium, according to a story in the Nov. 28, 1988 Columbia Basin Herald. In fact, volunteers once spent about 48 hours straight working on the site, Dollarhide said, with all materials, equipment and labor either donated or provided at reduced cost.

But it proved difficult to pursue such a big project with volunteer labor and administration, he said. In the years since 1988 components of the planned development were built in other places around town, and Lions Field, the existing football field, was refurbished as part of a school district bond issue.

The Moses Lake School District purchased the property in 1996, said Moses Lake School Board member Vicki Groff. The land will be the site of the district's new transportation center and the Grant County Skills Center.

In 2009 association members donated $11,000 to the construction of basketball courts at Doolittle Park on Patton Boulevard. This donation closes out the association's account. "We're done," Dollarhide said.

The Boys and Girls Club has been raising money to replace its existing downtown club in Moses Lake, and the organization's executive director Brant Mayo said the donation puts them $33,000 closer to meeting the goal. "This won't quite get us over, but this gets us a step closer," he said.

The new Boys and Girls Club will be located between Park Orchard Elementary School and a city park, Mayo said. The district will have access to the Boys and Girls Club during the day, and the club will have access to Park Orchard's gym, cafeteria and a computer lab after school is out for the day, he said.

The idea for the sports complex originated with Mick Hansen and his late wife Judy; other board members included Dollarhide, Groff, Jack Hendrix, Bill Mackey, Mike Smith, Hugh Raymond, Alan Burritt, Greg Kittrell, Scott Dietzen and the late Bob Skidmore.