Boys and Girls Club seeking Community Development Block Grant; seeks letters of support

The Glacier Country Boys and Girls Club will soon seek a Community Development Block Grant that could go toward expansion in Columbia Falls.

The club is asking for emails and letters of support from the community and business leaders as it applies for the grant which the city of Columbia Falls has agreed to sponsor.

The maximum grant is $600,000, Melissa Dunning, the club’s director of development said Wednesday.

Currently the club serves about 60 kids in Columbia Fall and another 45 in Evergreen. It would like to serve at least 300.

But it’s out of room. The Columbia Falls Club is in the old and weary Episcopal Church on Fourth Avenue West, across the street from Glacier Gateway Elementary.

There is s currently a waiting list for its Columbia Falls after school program, noted director Mandy Anderson.

“We can’t take anymore,” she said. “It’s a capacity issue.”

The club charges a nominal $50 per child per month fee for its after school program and more than half of the kids qualify for scholarships, as about 60% of people are in lower income brackets.

By comparison, private daycare is about $50 a day.

The club takes in children from kindergarten through seniors in high school, but most of its members are K-6, Anderson noted.

In short, it provides valuable programs for woking-class families. The grant would help the club with its eventual expansion plans, where it hopes to broaden its reach across the Flathead Valley and to eventually build a facility in Columbia Falls.

Folks who want to support the grant application can email city manager Susan Nicosia at: nicosias@cityofcolumbiafalls.com