SEQUIM — The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula are embarking on fresh ventures this year, with parties aimed at children and their families.
It all begins with burping this Saturday — burping of those plastic containers known as Tupperware.
The Sequim Boys & Girls Club at 400 W. Fir St. will host a Tupperware party, with free baby-sitting while the grownups browse, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Local dealer Linda Cutler approached the clubs’ resource development director, Stacy Ceder, so the two worked out a plan to funnel 15 percent of sales proceeds to the Boys & Girls Clubs.
Saturday’s ideal for this, Ceder said, because next door to the Sequim club, Helen Haller Elementary School at 350 W. Fir St. is having its family fun festival, also from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We thought we’d piggyback on that,” she said, adding that Cutler’s offer is an example of unexpected support coming straight from the community.
With the clubs drawing on their reserves to cover expenditures last year – revenues totaled $945,000 while spending reached $1.02 million — this kind of help is crucial for survival, said Bob Schilling, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs in Sequim and Port Angeles.
The clubs’ reserve covered the deficit of some $47,000, Schilling said, but “we got uncomfortably low.”
He wants to keep at least two months’ expenses, or $160,000, in the bank. Three or four months’ worth would be even better.
Putting that much back in reserve in 2010 will be an uphill climb, with $963,000 in projected spending and $975,000 in projected revenue from fundraising events, grants and membership dues.
Meanwhile, the children and teens who come to the clubs after school and during their winter, spring and summer breaks are asked to pay membership dues of $30 per year.
That charge is the same as last year, but Schilling said the Sequim member numbers are down.
At this time last year, 261 youngsters were registered in Sequim; last week only 155 had paid dues.
But “if you were to come in here today, you would see a lot more than 150 kids,” Schilling said.
The clubs do not turn kids away if their parents haven’t yet paid for their memberships.
The yet-to-register children are called “outreach” kids, the director added.
The Boys & Girls Club mission is to provide a positive place for youth — not a place that depends on kids’ dues.
“The expectation [for support] is on the community, not on the parents,” Schilling said.
In contrast, though, membership is up at the Port Angeles club.
It has 67 paid members, an increase of 16 over last year’s number. Schilling doesn’t yet have an explanation for that.
He does have plans to renew the Boys & Girls Clubs’ partnership with one high-rolling community member: the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe and its 7 Cedars Casino.
On Saturday, Feb. 20, the casino on U.S. Highway 101 east of Sequim will host a “kids’ bingo party,” with doors open at 10 a.m. and games at noon.
Youth age 6 to 17 are invited, along with their parents or grandparents.
Bingo players will pay $10 to participate, and they’ll have the chance to win some high-ticket prizes such as two Fender acoustic guitars and a Wii game console.
The casino space and staff time to run the bingo games are donations from the tribe, Schilling said.
Jamestown officials suggested the idea to him, and the Boys & Girls Clubs board of directors endorsed it.
Schilling understands, however, that some may not want to have their children go to the casino, with its blackjack tables and hundreds of slot machines.
But “this isn’t intended to be gambling, any more than a fishing derby is gambling,” he added.
Schilling also said it’ll be up to parents and guardians to decide whether to take their kids to bingo, since he won’t be transporting anybody there on the Boys & Girls Club bus.
Schilling touted the Jamestown tribe, which he said has been “a great partner” to many community nonprofits.
“I am thrilled to build our partnership,” he added. “Whoever comes [to the bingo party] is coming in the spirit of making a donation to the Boys & Girls Club and having fun.”
In Port Angeles, the club has a steering committee in charge of planning yet another fundraiser.
The members are eyeing an Italian dinner in March or April, Schilling said. Details will be announced as soon as they’re firm.
These benefit events, clustered near the start of the year, are aimed at solving what Schilling calls “our cash-flow problem.”
For too long, the clubs’ major fundraisers were all later: the dinner and auction is held in November.
The United Way’s local campaign, which netted $106,000 this past year, also happens in the fall.
That healthy sum owes much to an anonymous $25,000 contribution from a local worker whose employer matched it, Schilling said.
There’s no guarantee that $50,000 will be coming again next time, of course.
Yet he and Ceder insist on being optimistic about the clubs’ recovery. The Tupperware and bingo parties are positive signs, Ceder said.
“The community wants to come behind the Boys & Girls Club and help. A lot of people can’t afford straight cash donations, but they can do fundraising programs,” she said. “It’s a good feeling.”
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
