Boys & Girls Clubs start Bressi Ranch project

By: BARBARA HENRY - Staff Writer
Organization still needs millions for $7 million construction effort | Thursday, February 7, 2008 10:02 PM PST ∞

CARLSBAD ---- Though all the money isn't there yet, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad broke ground Thursday on a $7 million clubhouse within the Bressi Ranch housing development.

The current funding shortfall is not a detriment, declared Greg Nelson, an entrepreneur who donated the initial $1 million in 2004 to get the fundraising campaign started.

"People like to support things when they can see the brick and mortar happening," he told a crowd of some 100 people at the groundbreaking ceremony

Nelson added that he thinks the money will come in faster now.

Board President David Kulchin said the organization has raised $4 million, plus it has in-kind donations worth approximately $1 million. About $2 million more is needed to finish the job, he said.

Plans call for the nonprofit organization to open its new 18,600-square-foot clubhouse a year from now. It's being built on the northwest corner of Bressi Ranch Way and Paradise Drive, next door to a shopping center currently under construction.

The facility is expected to serve upward of 250 children a day. It will contain a gymnasium, a game room, a teen center, and areas for art projects, dance classes, aerobics sessions and computer training. Membership for this and the organization's other clubhouse on Roosevelt Street in downtown Carlsbad are kept deliberately low ---- kids pay $25 a year.

Nelson said the place could be called a guidance center because employees help children gain skills that will benefit them the rest of their lives, but that name wouldn't be popular with kids.

Nelson, who has been described as the project's biggest community cheerleader, reiterated Thursday what he has said in the past ---- there's no other cause that means as much to him as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad.

He was 9, he said, when his father abandoned his family, leaving his mom to support him and his brother. His mom, who worked until 9 p.m. most nights, would drop the two boys off at the clubhouse on Roosevelt Street to keep them out of trouble.

"The club was really our home away from home, but it was a lot more than that," he said.

Nelson eventually got a job there and at one point served as the club's executive director. These days he's co-chairing the fundraising effort.

Despite the ongoing hunt for donation dollars, club leaders and guests were upbeat during Thursday's ceremony.

"It's extremely uplifting to be here on a day like today," Kulchin said, adding that he's been to many groundbreaking events. "But there's nothing like this. This is so special. What a legacy we're building here."

San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Young told the crowd that such a place could make a difference in the lives of children, saying community recreation centers kept him out of trouble when he was a kid.

Mayor Bud Lewis, who worked in a Boys & Girls Club facility in San Diego in the 1950s, said he knows what a clubhouse can do for low-income children. The crowd laughed when Lewis added that the Bressi Ranch area, which is known for its upscale homes, isn't hurting for money, but still could use a place to keep children with working parents busy.

Kelly Dittoe, a seventh-grader who is the local organization's current "Youth of the Year," said she has needed just such a spot.

"Instead of going home alone, going to the club was a better option," the 12-year-old said, describing how she has been visiting the organization's temporary trailer in La Costa for three years. "There's only one problem with the La Costa branch, it's way too small. It's a good thing we're all friends."

For information about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad call (760) 729-0207 or visit www.bgccarlsbad.org

Donation checks can be mailed to: the Boys & Girls Clubs of Carlsbad, P.O. Box 913, Carlsbad, CA 92018.

Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.