Hancock County Boys and Girls Club CEO Chantel Fowler cuts the ribbon at the grand opening of the club’s Fortville extension.
Cori Jobman
FORTVILLE – The Fortville extension of the Hancock County Boys and Girls Club officially opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday afternoon.
The extension has already begun programming with its summer camps beginning in June, but the extension will open its doors to after-school programs for the first time on Thursday, the first day of classes for Mt. Vernon Community School Corporation. The extension is based out of the Fortville Community Center in Memorial Park.
“It’s just growing so quickly, this part of the community, and we were already serving kids at our Greenfield site that were from this area,” CEO Chantel Fowler said.
The club had a presence in Fortville in the late ’90s and early ’00s, but this is its first time back in the community in over 20 years.
The extension aims to offer similar services to those in the Greenfield location, both in terms of hours and programming. The hours will be from the end of the school day until 6 p.m., and the programming will include offerings for STEM, life skills and workforce readiness. Fowler mentioned hoping to work with Mt. Vernon on some of that programming, especially as the district’s new strategic plan included college/career programming as a key component.
The extension also hopes to take advantage of its location in the center of a public park to do outdoor programming when the weather is suitable. Fowler highlighted a program called “Ultimate Journey,” which helps teach kids about animals, recycling and the environment, that would be enhanced by the extension’s location.
Site director Carly Seaton has only been with the Boys and Girls Club for a short time, working as a youth development professional this summer at the camps in Fortville, but she said when the site director position became open, she approached Fowler because “this is where I want to be.”
According to Seaton, the site will open with six staff members, but will rely heavily on volunteers. She says that the board members of the club will work as volunteers early on, but hopes that, as the extension makes a name for itself in the community, they’ll be able to bring in more volunteers.
Fortville parks and recreation manager Heath Luther says he’s enjoyed working with the extension so far this summer. “My office was a little bit louder than what it usually was, but it was great to have kids back in here and have the facility being used,” Luther said with a smile.
The club is only renting the kitchen and the “Lions Club” room, and the town is currently seeking a lessee for the gym in the community center, with one perspective lessee hoping to turn the room into a baseball practice facility, but both Fowler and Luther hope that the groups will be able to communicate on days when weather keeps the activities indoors. All other facilities will remain rentable for the community.
Luther says that the revenue brought into the town through the lease with the Boys and Girls Club, as well as the prospective lease on the gym, will help the department do work on the park, including updating the restrooms and installing new playground equipment for the community to use.
Fowler and Seaton both say the club is always looking for volunteers, and community members can sign up to help on the club’s website.
