By Kari Eakins – 19 Sept ’14
A check for $750,000 was presented to the Boys & Girls Club of Cheyenne on Friday from the Daniels Fund. The money will help the club finish its new facility and is in addition to a $250,000 grant from the Daniels Fund made in 2011, also for the Capital Campaign.
“The grant from the Daniels Fund moves us a huge step closer to being able to finish our building and start reaching more people in our community,” said Rolinda Sample, the Club’s Chief Professional Officer, in a release.
The new facility will double the Club’s membership capacity in Cheyenne from 500 to about 1,000 youth every year. Brenda Elliot, the Club’s board president, says they expect construction to wrap up late this fall and be operating to its full capacity in January of 2015.
“It’s not just a place for kids to come play,” said Elliot. “It’s a place for them to come and learn to be responsible adults and the staff is wonderful with working with them and teaching them this life skills. It’s really, really exciting for all of the kids in our community to have somewhere they can be to not just play, but to learn.”
Elliot added that thanks to the generosity of the Daniels Fund and other donors in the community, they will likely be debt free when the facility opens.
At the presentation of the check on Friday afternoon, Daniels Fund President and CEO Linda Childears said they look for projects just like this one, “The community really comes together and says this is what we need to do for our kids and the community shares in the planning and everybody is involved and it’s really exciting for us to be a part of it.”
