I’m a big fan of the Boys & Girls Clubs and well remember how the club in Cypress provided childcare and support for my daughter, Kristal, during those difficult junior high school years more than 20 years ago. So I’m especially happy to report this success story.
In August, Robert L. Mayer Sr., chairman emeritus of the Mayer Corp. and builder of the Hyatt Regency and Waterfront Hilton hotels in Huntington Beach, challenged the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley to raise $2 million by Dec. 31.
If the challenge was met, Mayer vowed to match every dollar raised.
Boys & Girls Clubs officials have announced that they did, indeed, raise the $2 million, which included a $1 million donation by Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology.
Why the need for such an ambitious fundraising campaign? The $4 million will be used to pay down the club’s $4.8 million mortgage on its newest facility at Golden West College.
The three-building college complex cost about $13 million to build. Donated funds paid for the first $8 million, but a mortgage was needed to complete the project.
Thanks to the mortgage, the first Boys & Girls Clubs branch on a California college campus has been built. It includes a school-age recreation center, a preschool and a collegiate-sized gymnasium. Together, the three buildings are called the Kingston Technology Family Campus. The Family Campus serves more than 1,500 children each year.
In 2005, Mayer gave the lead gift to the club’s “Building Dreams” capital campaign that started the Family Campus project, and the club’s Robert Mayer Child Development Preschool is named in his honor.
“The Club is so grateful to both Bob Mayer and Kingston Technology for making these extraordinary gifts and to the hundreds of individuals, companies, and foundations who each had a hand in meeting the $2 million challenge. Every donation is a gift to our whole community,” said club CEO Tanya Hoxsie, in a press release.
She added: “Thanks to their generosity, the club can move forward into 2020 on firm footing financially, and that’s good for every child and family in our community who counts on the club.”
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley has seven locations in Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley and serves about 12,000 children and their families.
The club provides before- and after-school programs with bus transportation to and from 45 schools, licensed childcare for children age six weeks to six years, sports leagues, performing arts programs and family support programs.