MOSES LAKE — “It’s happy tears,” Boys & Girls Club Director Kim Pope told a little girl who asked why she was crying. “No sad tears today.”

Pope had to fight back tears several times at North Elementary School on Wednesday morning, as she accepted a donation from Group14 and other local businesses that would keep the club afloat through the year. 

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin has a memorandum of understanding with the Moses Lake School District to run after-school programs at North, Midway, Larson Heights and Longview elementary schools, she explained, but with the district’s recent budget woes, the money simply wasn’t going to be there. To continue the programs, the club would have to come up somehow with $170,000. 

“Two months ago, I was crying on the phone and it was like tears of devastation, because we thought, what are we going to do?” Pope said

Word of the shortfall got to Don Kersey, plant manager for Group14 in Moses Lake, and his team kicked into action. In April, Kersey contacted the construction partners working on the plant and gave them a challenge: match Group14’s $85,000 contribution.

“I am proud to say that these leaders, our construction partners, partners more than met that challenge by providing an additional $90,000 to bring the total donation up to $175,000,” Kersey said.

The donation was made at North Elementary School, where the club has had programs for about 16 years, according to Boys and Girls Club Operations Director Cecily Hendricks. About two dozen children who attend the club program at North took part as well; everybody who came in got a handmade friendship bracelet and the kids demonstrated an obstacle course in the gym before gathering in the cafeteria for the check-passing.

Club Board President P.J. DeBenedetti has been involved with the club since its founding in 1994, he said, when it was housed in a single clubhouse at the Base.

“In those 30 years, this club has grown enormously, but we're as committed to our mission today as we were when we started 30 years ago,” DeBenedetti said. “And our mission is to enable all young people, especially those who need us the most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.” 

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Columbia Basin serves about 600 children in its after-school programs, Pope said. The programs include a meal every day; for some kids it’s the last thing they’ll eat all day. The club also provides kids with free breakfast and lunch through the summer, and offers summer camps for children and teens. The program at North is especially important, Pope said, because not only are so many residents low-income, but the Larson Community is geographically isolated from the rest of the town, and it’s difficult for kids to walk or bike anywhere else.

“North Elementary is 98% free and reduced lunch, the kids that come to our club,” said Pope. “So we're seeing the neediest, the most at-risk kids. And you think, if the kids can’t come into our club, where are they going to go out here at Larson housing? It scared me. We cannot let this go.”

“The support that’s been so quickly rallied behind the Boys & Girls Clubs is a testament to the strength of our community here in Moses Lake,” said Kersey. "This donation is not only about securing after-school care and resources — it’s also about investing in the future of our community’s children.”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.

Local helpers: 

These businesses pitched in to save the Boys and Girls Club’s after-school programs:

• Apollo

• Barin Group

• Clayco Foundation

• Group14

• McKinstry

• North Central Construction

• Transco

• Valley Electric

    Students in the Boys & Girls Club summer program at North Elementary demonstrated an obstacle course that includes riding a scooter board blindfolded, hopping through hula hoops and shooting baskets.