Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio will be able to keep the doors open at its Eastside clubhouse thanks to community donations, the nonprofit announced on Tuesday.
This follows news from last week that the nonprofit would be pausing operations on the East Side and permanently closing its Southside clubhouse. San Antonio Boys and Girls Clubs has shrunk its footprint across the city over the last several years due to financial challenges.
The nonprofit provides a variety of resources for kids 6 to 18 years old, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, including afterschool care, youth development programs, food, health and wellness resources.
Donations from Harvey E. Najim, Valero, The Malú and Carlos Alvarez Family, H-E-B as well as a group of donors and community partners are helping keep the Eastside clubhouse open.
The Mays clubhouse in Southtown and in-school programming through San Antonio ISD will also remain fully open.
“Our community showed up for the kids of San Antonio, and because of that, we
get to keep showing up for them too,” said Debbie Powell, CEO of Boys and Girls
Clubs of San Antonio.
To make reopening possible, a number of positions were eliminated. And the Eastside clubhouse will be operating at a limited capacity, “giving BGCSA room to rebuild deliberately and in partnership with the community rather than all at once,” the news release notes.
The nonprofit also announced that it’s forming a community voice council made up of nonprofits, political leaders and families to guide the future of Eastside programming.
The councilman proposed contributing three months of operating funds for the Boys and Girls Clubs’ Eastside Clubhouse to get it into “a better financial position,” he said.
