Yankton’s Boys & Girls Club Builds A Better Future For Our Youth Oh, the days of childhood. Less pressure, more carefree, less stress and a whole lot more fun. I found myself wishing to revert back to my younger days even more after I heard about the fantastic new Boys and Girls facility scheduled to open in Yankton in midOctober! Vanessa Merhib, Executive Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Brookings, Moody and Yankton County, helped me understand the importance the Boys and Girls Club serves in our community. Imagine an exciting but safe place where youth can gather for an abundance of possibilities, giving them outdoor space, gym space, cooking space, art space, exposure and opportunity in the arts. A place that offers academic programs that address learning loss while partnering with the schools and teachers to expose them to new opportunities and project based learning. Boys and Girls Clubs have actually existed nationwide for over 125 years with a presence in South Dakota for 60 years. During this time, South Dakota has established 29 Club sites and 13 Boys & Girls Club Corporations. According to Merhib, Yankton opened its Boys and Girls Club (BGC) in 2009 and was partnered with the BGC of the Missouri 6vHERVOICEvSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2016 River area. Three years later the Board of Directors elected to partner with the Boys & Girls Clubs in Brookings and Moody County. Yankton’s current BGC offers two programs for youth, the Traditional facility which serves 6th-12th grade youth and the Academy, a fee-based and licensed program held at St. Benedict School and Stewart Elementary. Both programs together serve over 150 youth per day. While the size of their current Traditional facility limits them to serving youth in 6th-12th grade, the new facility opening this fall will allow for many more youth to take part. Youth in grades 1st through 12th will have the opportunity to take part in a drop-in recreational program for $25 per year and they will continue to offer the licensed program for children ages 5-12 that will remain at St. Benedict School and Stewart Elementary. Lori Stephenson, Vice-President of the Advisory Council, is excited about the BGC in Yankton, explaining, “I am so excited about the BGC because it provides the kids in Yankton with a positive, safe place to go where they not only get to hang out with friends, but also are offered lots of great opportunities to learn how to be great. Kids in grades 1-12 will have lots of choices