Cool club

More than 200 children wasted no time breaking in the new Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Florida branch in Eatonville on June 17.

The 9,000-square-foot facility, the Joe R. Lee branch, boasts an arts and crafts/multipurpose room, a computer lab, a kitchen, and a health and life skills area.

That’s a big step up from the one-room, double-wide portable that had housed the Eatonville branch since 1999. That facility barely had A/C.

“You have kids, you bring them from hot heat, and bring them to a hot portable … It’s hot outside and they’re irritated, but we love our Club, we love our kids,” said Shaneka Colston, a 19-year-old staff member who also attended the Eatonville branch as a child. “We wouldn’t change anything about the experience that we had.”

Now the Eatonville club can serve more children than ever before, said Gary Cain, president of BGCCF. “We’re going to be able to provide them with a first-class environment in which to learn and grow and build the strong values to be prepared to be a good and gracious citizen. We’re very serious about helping all children achieve their God-given potential.”

The new facility’s namesake, Joe R. Lee, is the retired chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants and a longtime supporter of BGCCF. “I think the kids will be more proud to be a member here now,” Lee said. “I just feel honored that Darden stepped up to do this, and I can’t say enough good things about what Boys and Girls Clubs staff does every day.”

Members of the community flooded the facility’s gym for the ribbon cutting. Members of BGCCF, Darden Restaurants and Eatonville Town Council spoke of their high hopes for this new addition to Eatonville.

One of the speakers was 13-year-old Monterio Logan, who has been a student in the Eatonville branch for eight years. “Our Club wasn’t a state-of-the-art facility,” he said. “It was a very old and run-down portable. Can you imagine trying to fit 100 kids in that portable?

“It showed us how to work as a team and appreciate each other, one of the few things we did have. But today is a new day. We overcame obstacles and have been blessed in so many ways.”

After the ribbon cutting, supporters and Town Council members toured the facility, and boys and girls played table tennis and pool.

The BGCCF serves more than 12,000 children in Central Florida. Half of them come from single-parent homes, 73 percent are eligible for free or reduced lunch programs, and 69 percent come from families whose household income is less than $30,000 per year.

In spite of the statistics that usually follow such demographics, last year, 100 percent of Club members who were high school seniors graduated. Less than a tenth of 1 percent of Club members were arrested. There were no pregnancies among the Clubs’ 4,531 female members ages 10-18.

“It would be very easy for me to cry about this,” Cain said. “Personally, it means the world … every time we open these Clubs, I see the kids smiling, the time that they have; that’s all I need.”

Learn more

The Joe R. Lee branch of Boys and Girls Clubs is located at 400 Ruffel St., Eatonville. Call 407-599-3771 for more information.