This is a big day for Tacoma kids – and for the community. It’s dedication day for the new $8.5 million Donald G. Topping Regional HOPE Center, home of the Henry T. Schatz Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound.
Translated, that means children in some of the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods will have a fun, safe and educational place to go after school. The center – located in the South Tacoma Manitou neighborhood – opens for business on Tuesday.
Mark Starnes, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of South Puget Sound, says the “fun stuff” – like computers, sports, arts and crafts – is how the organization gets youngsters in the door.
The important stuff is what happens after that: helping equip them to handle difficulties in their lives and prepare them for brighter futures.
“Kids face a lot of challenges. Whether it’s struggling with school, conflict with another kid or something going on at home – we get them to talk about it,” Starnes said, citing the organization’s trained, professional staff.
“When you talk to alumni, what they remember is a particular adult or two who helped them, encouraged them, at a time they really needed it.”
There was some controversy earlier this year when the Boys & Girls Clubs announced that it would close the East Side branch and bus its members to the Schatz branch – four miles away and on the other side of Interstate 5. But the organization came up with a plan: a satellite facility in rented space at Bethlehem Baptist Church on East Portland Avenue. That will also open Tuesday – and allow the Boys & Girls Clubs to serve about 100 children in addition to the estimated 300 at the Schatz branch.
Although thousands in the community helped make the center a reality through their contributions, some big donors deserve special mention for giving at least $1 million: the Ben B. Cheney Foundation, the Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation, and the two men whose names are on the facility – Tacoma businessman Henry T. Schatz (and his General Plastics Manufacturing Co.) and the late Donald G. Topping, for whom the club was a lifelong labor of love.
Although the HOPE center is ready to serve the community, there’s something the community can still do to serve the center: volunteer. Help is needed with technology, homework, mentoring, sports, health and fitness.
All of us have a stake in helping kids succeed. The new HOPE center – the third of its kind in the South Sound – will play an important role in that.
Editorial corrected: Gary E. Milgard Family Foundation is the correct name for major contributor.
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