The Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Santiam celebrated its 50th anniversary of Lebanon’s foundation during its “A Night of Stars” annual benefit auction and dinner on Saturday, May 2.
Wayne Rieskamp, the last remaining originator of what became the Lebanon Boys & Girls Club, attended the event, seated in the center of the club’s gym with other club VIPs.
The story goes that in 1975 four men – Rieskamp, Ken Toomb, Tom Davis and Willie Walsh – were enjoying a simple cup of coffee at a restaurant together when a shared concern arose: the need for a safe, positive place where kids in the community could gather together, and grow in hope and belonging, with an equal chance for success.
From that conversation grew a vision that took soon shape, first in the form of sports teams into an organization operating out of a modified restroom and, eventually, into the club facility we know of today, expanding also into Sweet Home.
First on the menu was football for boys. But, Rieskamp said, they knew they needed to bring girls into the fold too, so they later started a girls softball program. From there, more sports began getting integrated into the club.
Meanwhile, the City of Lebanon gave the thumbs up for the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club to renovate the restroom at Century Park into a 2,400-square-foot club space.
“We really struggled in the initial years,” Rieskamp said. “We almost went under.”
The founders paid the organization’s bills out of their own pockets so the kids in Lebanon could remain planted in the growing club.
When club membership reached 1,000, a capital campaign was launched in March 1989 to construct a 20,000-square-foot building at the vacant lot across from Century Park. They asked for $300,000 cash and $250,000 of in-kind services.
Ground-breaking for the current facility took place in June 1990. Today, the Boys & Girls Club of the Greater Santiam continues providing youth recreational athletics, as well as after-school programs, workforce training, Kids Club, a preschool and a nutrition program.
Article clippings and photographs from the earliest days of the club now line the walls of the lobby at the Lebanon facility, and the original sign from the 1970s greets visitors from the reception counter.
Considering how far the club has come in 50 years, Rieskamp said he was “just really excited because for the last 10 years now we’ve been financially stable,” which includes an endowment of a couple million dollars.
The club operates on a budget of more than $2 million per year. The cost per day to serve one child is $50, monthly facility operational costs are $3,500, and 42% of its kids are on financial assistance.
After 50 years, from a vision born out of a cup of coffee to the “golden jubilee” celebration, Rieskamp said he is ready to resign from the club’s Board of Directors.
