Local Boys & Girls Club Receives Grant From State to Continue Providing Full-Time Childcare

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The Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County received a $26,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce to continue providing childcare during and after the school day at their Chehalis and Centralia locations.

The state awarded 421 youth development organizations a total of $9.4 million to support various organizations around the state that are serving children.

“In response, youth development programs quickly adapted their services to provide support for youth and families to whom they are deeply connected. Expanded or adapted offerings have included emergency childcare, social-emotional supports, academic mentoring, virtual programming, and basic needs supports. For many families, these organizations have been a sustaining lifeline,” stated a press release from the Department of Commerce.

Boys & Girls Club of Lewis County Executive Director Lauren Day said that the grant will help sustain current operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the schooling system, creating the need for all-day childcare rather than just afterschool services. The Boys & Girls Club traditionally offers after-school childcare from 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. but extended their operating hours to 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, since many students are not attending school in-person. The extended hours have significantly increased the operating costs.

“In March we were only budgeted to be operating three or four hours afterschool but because of the community we transitioned to be open ten hours a day,” Day said. “Our expenses to serve one kid have doubled since the start of COVID. We haven’t been able to host special events or do any of the fundraising that we normally do.”

The Boys & Girls Club’s Centralia location, which serves 30 kids, operates out of Jefferson Lincoln Elementary School and was opened at the beginning of the current school year using about $74,000 CARES Act funds allocated by the city of Centralia. 

“The Centralia CARES funding funded the first three months — September through November — then the Boys & Girls Club will find a way to fund the rest of the school year so this grant, in a way, will help us do that,” Day said.



The Chehalis location had to reduce the capacity from about 200 children to 95. The Boys & Girls Club brought in a portable unit to create more space for kids. Although the number of children served has decreased, the need for staff has increased since children must be kept in small groups and volunteers are no longer able to help out under COVID-19 restrictions, Day said. The cost for full-time childcare for the Boys & Girls Club is about $300 a month but some families are able to utilize “scholarship” funds, awarded based upon income level, to help pay for the childcare.

When schools initially closed in March of this year, the Boys & Girls Club was only open to children of first responders and essential community workers. When the club was able to start expanding operations, those children were given priority and the rest of the available spots were filled by children that were already involved in the organization for it’s partial closure.

Day said that before the COVID-19 shutdown, the waitlist was usually at about 200 and has increased since the capacity of the facility has been reduced by about half. 

To help continue to sustain operations, Day said that the community has provided support and the Boys & Girls Club continues to apply for more grants.

“I’ve applied for four Departmart of Commerce grants. We’re doing a lot of grant work. We also got $16,000 from the Lewis County CARES funding. We have a lot of community supporters and donors. The United Way of Lewis County and the Chehalis Foundation have also been really supportive. The community is finding ways to help support families,” Day said.