LIHUE — On May 4, the Boys & Girls Club, Lihue Outreach became the B&G Club, Lihue Clubhouse. With an umbrella covering more than 100 children each day at Elsie Wilcox Elementary School, and an additional 20 or more at
LIHUE — On May 4, the Boys & Girls Club, Lihue Outreach became the B&G Club, Lihue Clubhouse.
With an umbrella covering more than 100 children each day at Elsie Wilcox Elementary School, and an additional 20 or more at the Lihue Court Townhomes, the Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School Torch Club, and the Leaders-in-Training, a high school mentoring program, the B&G Club Clubhouse was dedicated Tuesday adjacent to the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall parking lot.
Once the home of the county’s Prosecuting Attorney and its offices and its Victim Witness Program, the portable building was transformed into the new B&G Club, Lihue Clubhouse.
“The idea, like all good ideas, comes from partnerships and teamwork,” said Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. “It takes many people to make something like the clubhouse come together.”
The seeds of the clubhouse was planted by the B&G Club, Lihue Outreach students during a spring break Walk and Talk with the Mayor lunchtime outing.
The suggestion was readily picked up by Carvalho, who invited the students and leaders to his office for further discussions leading to the eventual site selection.
“There are so many people to thank for this project, including Kauai Builders, Lenny Rapozo, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, Mayor Carvalho, Anne and Walt Barnes, and Asaka Herman, the interim director for the B&G Club, Lihue Clubhouse,” said Tina Albao. “These people supported the project from start to finish and it would not have been possible to get it done without them. I am very proud and grateful and hope there will be additional projects like the Lihue Clubhouse in the future.”
Albao said the clubhouse cannot totally support the capacity of members in the Lihue program.
“Our community partnerships are very important, such as the one with Brian Alston of Lihue Court Townhomes providing the Koa Learning Center with computer labs and areas for our members to garden and additional space for school intercessions,” Albao said. “Successful partnerships is the foundation of the work we do.”
The suggestion also triggered Carvalho, Rapozo and Wanda Kau-Shibata, the governor’s liaison, into discussions about how the remaining portable buildings could be utilized to add to the Lihue Clubhouse.
Joining the festivities, Jim Clark, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of America, Lorraine Orr, COO, Tim Motts, the Boys & Girls Club of Hawai‘i CEO, and Mike Town, the corporate board chair, enjoyed the talents of the Boys & Girls Club, Kapaa Clubhouse, and the Boys & Girls Club, Waimea Outreach.
“Waimea is still an outreach site, but hopes to identify a clubhouse location in the near future,” Albao said. “On Kauai, the B&G Club serves more than 250 members each day in afterschool programming, increasing protective factors for Kauai’s youth.”
Albao, who took over the transformation process following the departure of Keith Cruickshank in January, said the proudest moment of the project was getting to see the looks on the children’s faces when they saw the facility for the first time.
“There is such a feeling of accomplishment when you see a project start from nothing, and end with this,” she said.
Call 245-2210 for more information on the Boys & Girls Club programs on Kauai.
