The Boys and Girls Club in Benton, will celebrate its one year anniversary on Friday, December 5.  During The Benton Unit Boys and Girls Club’s first year of operation, nearly 200 local community youth have been served through educational and recreational programs.

“The Benton community has shown amazing support and excitement towards the new unit and we have been astonished by the number of youth and parent involvement in such a short amount of time,” said Benton unit director Cindy Hooker.  Parents have enjoyed seeing their children experience pool tournaments, doughnut eating contests, relay races, educational programs, after school tutoring, sports, and deep friendships with other members and trained staff.  

Many parents have made positive comments on the Club’s Project Learn, Smart Moves, and Second Step programs because of the deep values these curriculums teach to the kids in our community.  However, if you were to ask the children they would share similar excitement over games of air hockey, pool, flag football, video game tournaments, and the many special events offered by the Club.  If you were to tour the Unit today you would see little girls coloring and discussing Hannah Montana, catch members enjoying learning experiences in the computer lab, find students working on book reports, and children laughing over dinner.  There is also a media room where children would be hard at work with homework or involved in a Healthy Habits lesson.  

Probably most important, are the relationships being built between staff and members.  Every child needs that everyday positive interaction with an adult who can help support and guide them to make healthy decisions in their everyday life.  The Benton Unit Boys and Girls Club is working hard to help the members of the club have that “story book” childhood experience.

Summer was a blast and extremely busy!  Club members were shuttled to the pool twice a week, participated in field trips each Friday, enjoyed fishing at Camp Agape, talent shows, and much more to mention.  There were several youth groups that came from all over the country including Beverly Hills, Louisiana, Minnesota, to spend the week sharing life experiences with our members.  One group from Memphis taught them all about the “Blues” and showed them how to make air guitars.  

Fall is now underway and members will be given the chance to win prizes as they participate in the talent show, show off their skills in the fine arts exhibit, or even make it to the flag football super bowl.  Students will also be receiving assistance with their homework and rewarded for their efforts.  Hopefully a new fall trend for the students of Polk County High School will be to hang at least one Friday night a month during the series of Friday Night Live.  Also due to request, family nights will also be introduced this fall.

The Benton Boys and Girls Club was established to address the needs of the students and community of Polk County.  There were two preliminary years of hard volunteer work and dedication in getting this organization to the place of opening its doors.  A lot of time was spent this past year on making the community aware that these doors were open.  Families that found the Club have shown major support by aiding in getting the word out to the masses.  Although it has been a tough year for Mrs. Cindy Hooker due to the many hats she has had to wear as director and fundraiser, she has been well aware that nothing of worth comes without a price.  

A majority of the first year funding came from a start-up grant through the National Boys and Girls Club located in Atlanta, GA; however, many people in Polk County are to thank for the establishment of the Unit.  John Miles, Scott Stevens, Laina Phillips, Christal Morris, Tanner Meachen and Ryan Goodman are all board members who fell in love with the idea when it was first presented to them.  They have volunteered their time and support in seeing that the Club is a success.  Volunteer Electric, Subway in Ocoee, Super Saver, ReMax, Southern Heritage Bank, Burgess Feed and Hardware, Benton Bank, IGA, Benton Station Baptist Church, Comcast, Tracy Phillips and the County Commissioners have all made contributions to help sustain the Benton Club.

If you go by to visit the Club, currently located on Clemmer Ferry Road, and see the children or talk to Cindy Hooker, the Unit Director, you would agree that Polk County needs this Club to remain open.  Unfortunately, there is very little funding to carry the Club into next year.  Probable funding includes $12,000 received from the County Commissioners along with a possible $18,000 from the Polk County Drug Coalition.  Cindy has worked diligently in applying for grants that could help further programming and staffing; however, based on the grants applied for, many maybe obtained beyond the date needed in order to remain open.  It looks as though the only immediate relief is the dependency of the people of Polk County in order to keep their Boys and Girls Club going. It takes approximately $75,000 annually for the Club to operate efficiently.  If 350 people could donate $200, the Club would not have to stress the financial concern and could focus on what is important, our youth.  Many individuals or families may not be able to give $200 while others could possibly give more.  Regardless of the amount of your donation, any support is greatly appreciated.

Please consider a donation to the Benton Unit Boys and Girls Club. Donations can be mailed to P.O. Box 944, Benton, TN 37307 or dropped by the Club.  The Boys and Girls Club is open Monday-Friday from 3:00-8:00 PM.  If you would like your donation picked up or have a general question, please contact Cindy Hooker at 299-9057 or 584-2019.