In last week’s story about the anniversary celebration for Lebanon’s Boys & Girls Club, Ken Toomb should have been identified as one of the original four who gathered together and came up with the idea, not Jim McDaniel.
In addition to making this correction, The New Era wanted to shed more light on the first years of the club’s origins.
The story goes that in 1975 four men – Wayne 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.
That same year, a Board of Directors was formed for what was originally going to be called the Lebanon Boys Club, but not long later became the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club. The board consisted of Rodger Greenfield, Vern “Bud” Pulliam, George S. Clark and Joseph L. Durst.
Greenfield, who worked for the Lebanon Police Department, said 80% of the city’s misdemeanors were committed by youth under 18 years of age. He blamed a lack of organized activities as part of the reason, and believed a youth center would alleviate some of the mischief.
In the earlier formation of the club, the board planned to turn Century Park’s picnic shelter into a meeting place. They envisioned starting off with football teams, pool tables, woodshop and craft classes, and “other structured offerings,” all under the guidance of a full-time director. The club, one organizer said in a news story at the time, “will not be a haven for students skipping school.”
Some citizens were concerned about the incoming program, citing fears of the park being overrun and the club becoming a “babysitting outfit,” and one council member said it would duplicate programs already offered by the city’s Community Services program.
However, newspaper articles at the time noted that the director of Community Services, Jim McDaniel, was also on the original board of the Lebanon Boys and Girls Club. Supporters of the club noted it would offer different programs not offered by Community Services.
Greenfield emphasized in support of the club that it would be a long-range program that helps prepare kids for the future, and would provide kids a choice of something to do because, “by golly, they deserve it.”
The first major program to get off the ground by the new Lebanon Boys and Girls Club was tackle football. In partnership with the Elks, Kiwanis and Lions clubs, three teams of 25 to 30 kids were formed under the direction of Interim Club Director Charlie Greene. They would compete against teams in Scio, Jefferson and Central Linn.
The club’s first official director, Grant Calin, was hired in December 1975. The first “capital” fund drive for $10,000 began in March 1976 to enclose and enlarge the park’s picnic shelter, completed in 1977, to function as a clubhouse. Membership was at about 150, but Calin estimated membership would stabilize around 500 in the first year.
Board President George Clark saw the club as an outlet for kids who needed to vent their emotions in a constructive way and become involved without cost.
Still, operational costs were going to be needed. Members paid $2 per year, and fundraising to support operational costs and further construction also began in 1976. “Youth boosters” could sponsor a child for $1 per month. Fundraising efforts continued in 1978, the same year the club rolled out the Rent-A-Kid program – residents needing garden work could hire a kid from the club, which gave kids an opportunity to earn some cash.
Another capital campaign kicked off in 1989 to construct a 20,000-square-foot building at the vacant lot across from Century Park, the clubhouse’s current facility. They asked for $300,000 cash and $250,000 of in-kind services. Ground-breaking took place in 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.