16 years in waiting, can $4 million donation help make this dream come true in Kuna?
My very first front page of the Kuna Melba News as owner of the weekly newspaper still hangs in a room in my house.
One of the headlines from that first issue, dated Oct. 4, 2006, reads, “Boys & Girls Club closer to reality.”
The article was about a presentation Boys and Girls Clubs of Ada County executive director Colleen Braga had made to the Kuna Kiwanis Club about building a club in Kuna.
Looking back at that article, it illustrates just how long of a journey some achievements can take.
That journey took a major step forward this week, though, as CS Beef Packers of Kuna announced it has donated $4 million toward a $10 million capital campaign to finally build a clubhouse in Kuna.
“CS Beef explained to us that the lack of child care and after-school programs is impacting their ability to hire and retain employees,” Braga in a news release. “They felt that if the club were to expand, it would not only provide a solution to their workforce challenges but also help local families struggling to find safe places for their kids to be while parents are at work.”
With CS Beef Packer’s donation, the Kuna Boys and Girls Club now has $6 million committed.
The plan is to build a 25,000-square-foot facility near Butler Park, really in the heart of Kuna, between Linder Road and School Avenue. It’s less than 1 mile from three elementary schools and two middle schools, less than 2 miles from Kuna High and Initial Point, an alternative high school.
It’s also less than 1 mile away from the spot where it was proposed 16 years ago, at the southeast corner of Deer Flat and Linder roads.
In December 2006, then-Mayor Dean Obray, city council members, police officials, community leaders and business owners testified in favor of building the club on a plot of land at that corner, which was a city park.
“This is the first time as mayor that I’ve felt such a unity grow in this community,” Obray said at the time, somewhat emotionally.
But, as it turned out, the land was a drainage easement for Ada County Highway District, and plans were scuttled.
Over the years, the community tried again.
Another proposal came forward in 2011 at the spot that’s being proposed now, but plans got pushed back until they finally just died a quiet death.
To meet the needs of the community, the Boys and Girls Club started a summer program inside Reed Elementary School.
Our two sons attended it religiously. It almost made me break down in tears, though, when one year our sons had the highest attendance of anyone in Kuna, a sad testament to the fact that my wife and I, so busy with work on the newspaper, failed to take a vacation that summer.
Today, the Boys and Girls Club is run out of the Old 4th Street Gym in downtown Kuna, a great old building that used to be the Kuna High gymnasium. But, as Boys and Girls Club officials point out, the building “has its limitations,” and they’re forced to turn kids away.
“It breaks our hearts to turn away kids at any of our clubs,” Braga said in a news release. “It’s especially hard in Kuna because where else will they go?”
The need is great.
Kuna’s population is now estimated to be more than 26,000 residents, with more than a third under the age of 18, or about 10,000 kids, according to the most recent Census numbers.
And Boys and Girls Clubs officials estimated that 95% of Kuna workers commute outside of Kuna, something that’s always been a problem in the city.
If they raise the money and get the club built, the club will offer affordable early child care from birth to 5 years old, serve kids of all ages, including teenagers, offer a gymnasium and have a capacity of 200-250 kids per day.
Major kudos to CS Beef Packers for stepping up with this major donation.
For more information about the club and how to donate, visit adaclubs.org/KunaCapitalCampaign.
Good things come to those who wait.
