NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Lance Patterson with Boys and Girls Club is pleased with the results it has gleaned thus far from a survey conducted earlier this summer.
"When we did this survey the last time, which was in 2016, what we found is that the community's perception of teens was not very good," Patterson said. "Not very good at all. Personally, they didn't have a good perception of teens and as a community they didn't feel like there was a good perception of teens. That's something that we wanted to really address. This time around, we saw that almost, just a little over half of the people surveyed had a positive perception of teens. We were really happy to see that."
So, what can the Boys and Girls club do to continue to help young people thrive?
"The other areas that really stood out was the need for mental health programs for our kids," Patterson said. "COVID has been a challenge for everyone, but especially for kids and so that's something that we're feeling the effects of what happened a couple of years ago. That mental health, workforce development and academic success were the other areas they felt were the most need for our community."
Patterson said enrollment for new students starts Monday and it is a great year to get started with the Boys and Girls Club.
"I would encourage everyone to enroll soon," Patterson said. "We were fortunate to receive a 21st century community learning center grant. This is actually a renewal of a grant that we currently have, but one of the kind of cool parts about this grant this time around is that it's going to allow us to waive all of our membership fees. For our school year program, there will be no fees charged to be part of the Boys and Girls Club."
The grant is just for K-5, but the club has decided to waive fees regardless of age this year. However, they could use donations from the community to help backfill some of that money they would have gotten from 6th grade and up. If you'd like to donate, go to https://www.bgchutch.com/.
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