STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — The Boys and Girls Club of Portage County celebrated the grand opening of the Berard Center in Stevens Point Saturday. That’s the brand new $4.2 million dollar center on Michigan Avenue, that is next to P.J. Jacobs Junior High School, the municipal pool, athletic fields, Willett Arena, and the former Mid-State Technical College building.
Executive Director Kevin Quevillon knew their former downtown location didn’t have the space and facilities they needed, and this new location along with generous contributions from the community made this a reality. “When I first talked to some of our donors out in the community, you know they believed in the vision, and I knew we were going to do it, and I couldn’t be more proud of where we ended up today.”
The new Stevens Point Boys and Girls Club site is large, including computer labs, art room, activity areas, exercise studio, and it’s attached to the previously underutilized gymnasium on the Stevens Point Parks and Recreation Department building. Quevillon says the new Berard Center has something else no other Wisconsin Boys and Girls Club has, and that’s an dental exam room and oral health program thanks to a partnership with Delta Dental. “We feel there’s a need for kids to have improved oral health, and you know there’s kids that fall through the cracks, and we feel like we have a good location here to catch some of those kids.”
The new building cost 4.2 million, and running the programs, supplying meals, and operating costs are high, but Quevillon says that never changes the ten dollars per child membership fee. “If you look at our budget and we divide it by the number of kids, you know our cost is really 6-7 hundred dollars a year per child, but our business model is such that we will charge kids ten dollars so that it’s fair and even for all kids regardless of their background, and we will go out and raise the money that’s needed to cover all of the costs.”
Their most recent fundraising effort to build the new center exceeded expectations by about $200 thousand dollars, which will be used to make improvements to other Portage County Boys and Girls Club sites, including Plover.
There are now eight locations in Portage County for Boys and Girls Club programming. The new Stevens Point Berard Center will eventually use its commercial grade kitchen to supply meals at all sites. “We intend to first, get our meals up and running here, and then eventually, we’ll bring meals out to our other locations, so we’ll have a central kitchen here.”
At least two hundred people attended the program and ribbon cutting ceremony Saturday. Many of the children paid attention to the program, while others kept on playing, exercising, creating artwork, or having something to eat.
The Berard Center was named in honor of donors Bob and Mary Berard, who were major contributors to this project.
The Boys and Girls Club of Portage County started in 2002 with only two locations and less than 50 members, but has grown to eight locations serving more than 1,400 members. Along with the new Berard Center, they offer programming at Jefferson Elementary School, Madison View School, Almond-Bancroft, Junction City, Plover, and a homework help center on main street in Stevens Point.
You can learn more about the Boys and Girls Club of Portage County online or by calling 715-341-4386. You can also check out their Facebook page.
(Listen to our interview with Kevin Quevillon on our website, here.)