Brother can you spare a dime?
Boys and Girls Club of the Emerald Coast needs $300,000 by Dec. 31.
Forget about Bernie Madoff. Walton County has a charitable organization with a way to double your money in less than six months, guaranteed.
With the demand for the services of the Boys and Girls Club of Walton County larger than ever and the economy still constricted, Bear Henley, Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Walton County, knows how he can stretch your charitable dollars, and it's all entirely legitimate.
Thanks to a $2 million grant from the Dugas Foundation, a donation of any size to the Boys and Girls Club's current capital campaign will be matched dollar for dollar. That means a $25 donation is actually worth $50. The only catch is that this generous offer, like Cinderella's coach-and-four, dissipates at midnight on Dec. 31 of this year. That's when your check must be in Henley's hands for the fundraising goal of $600,000 to be met.
Already, $300,000 has been raised.
After that, Henley only has to worry about raising another $1.4 million in 2010, getting the county commissioners' approval for his building plans, and running the gauntlet of the Walton County permitting process, an exercise that took as long as a full-term pregnancy the last time around. The WBCC will consider his proposal on July 14.
Henley is sanguine.
"I expect that, having performed our due diligence, we are looking at four to six months from now for groundbreaking," said Henley.
Presently slated for construction just south of the County Annex, between J.D. Miller Road and the Coastal Branch Library, the Boys and Girls Club's new building will house staff and essential activities and programs for disadvantaged youth in the county. The architect in charge is Joe Dougherty. Until plans become reality, additional space has been requested in the old Walton High School building, and trailers are being used to accommodate some programs.
Other fundraising events designed to help with the campaign include a series of breakfast clubs in August and a fall golf tournament and gala. Special events coordinator Andi Ratliff and major gifts and planned giving director Marcia Bunge are standing by their phones now, ready to take your calls and reservations.
The Walton County Boys and Girls Club can be reached at (850)861-1616, or visited online at www.bgcec.com.
