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A Boys & Girls Club can be found at the most eastern point in Maine, in the Great Plains, the Hawaiian Homelands and many Alaskan Villages. But our work is far from over. Read on to find out which tribes and communities are joining the movement.
Eastern Shoshone Tribe Club Opens
The Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe in Wyoming now has a new $1.7 million, 22,000-square-foot Boys & Girls Club. The Marilyn Roberts Youth Facility opened its doors on December 11, 2010 and is currently serving 300 Club members. Eastern Shoshone Business Council Chief Ivan Posey says that the new facility is “a dream come true!” They have waited so long to replace the old Club and now the kids have a new, safe place to go.
The Club opened on September 27, 1996 as a non-profit organization and operated in the Chief Washakie Complex. This aging facility was closed in 2005 and the Tribal Business Council, under the leadership of Chairman Posey, agreed to take over the operation of the Club. During this time the Club staff were very creative in sharing the gym, other Tribal buildings and providing field trips to serve the youth.
The new Club facility has many different areas for the youth to use. There is a teen center, arts and crafts room, game room with kitchen/café, media center, large gymnasium, office space for staff/volunteer mentors, and locker room. A small portion of the building is dedicated to the Tribal Early Intervention Program that serves pre-school youth with challenges.
In addition to the new facility, Lon and Nancy Lewis donated $1 million to the Club endowment through the Wyoming Community Foundation, the largest donation ever made to a non-profit organization on the Wind River Reservation. This endowment is dedicated to funding Club operations and currently has $1.15 million donated from two foundations and one individual.
Congratulations to the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe!
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