Community makes Cobre Valley Youth Club opening a success

It’s always risky to step away from the familiar, but when it comes to making a community a better place for its young people, the former advisory board of the Boys & Girls Club was willing. All it needed was to find others who could catch the vision, and it did.

From the moment the local Club partnered with the East Valley Boys & Girls Club, it was understood that it would need to find a way to become independent some day. That day was July 1, 2017. In addition to program funding, Club then needed support to buy a new bus or van, administrative and youth computers and for the branding of its new name.

Several people and agencies helped provide that funding.

Those follow:

• Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold - $40,000 for vans or buses and branding;
• United Fund – $30,000 for continued program support;
• City of Globe - $13,000 for continued program support;
• Globe Rotary - $2,000 for administrative computers and printer;
• GlobeMiamiTimes – Paid for design of new logo;
• Arizona State Prison Inmate fund-raiser - $3,618 for start-up costs.

 Vice President, Matt Storms accepts his thank-you during this months' Rotary potluck held at the club on Wednesday.  Photo by LCGross

Others came forward to help refresh the Club, both inside and out:

• Frank and Caryn Garcia (and grandchildren) – Volunteered to clean up and manicure flower beds and keep weeds at bay;
• Matt Storms – led the volunteer effort to paint the entire inside of the Club. He also gave up his weekend to make sure the job was completed.
• Maryn Belling – Spent her Saturday painting the Club and learned how fun it was to paint brick!
• David Staten – Helped paint the inside of the Club.

There have been several others who donated water cases to help keep Club kids hydrated and who have gone out of their way to ensure the Club had supplies and meals, and those are the Garcias, Vagra Miller, Storms and Fernando Shipley and Mickie Nye.

“This community has a heart for young people,” Executive Director Aimee Staten said. “We look forward to the future of the Club and its involvement in the lives of local young people.”

The after-school program for 2017-18 starts July 31. For more information about the Club or to enroll your children, call 928-793-3926 or 928-651-1781. Visit the Club at 1435 Hagen Road.