Boys & Girls Clubs Offer Summer Outlet for Kids

Sharon Dolan is aware that for some families, the luxury of picking and choosing is seldom available.

However, Dolan is making sure that if parents choose her organization, that exact luxury will be afforded to their young boys and girls.

Dolan is the chief professional officer and executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of North San Mateo County, overseeing five Clubs within the county (three in South San Francisco) and doing her part to make sure that opportunity remains in abundance for young children and teenagers across the county.

“For the Boys & Girls Club, in the summer but also just in general after school, it’s really about choices,” said Dolan, adorned in eyeglasses decorated with the colors of the rainbow. “It’s a place for firsts for kids. I think it’s a place where a lot of kids get to go somewhere for the first time or learn how to swim or learn how to play basketball.”

In her second year on the job, Dolan has made it a point to make the Club as affordable and convenient as possible for low-income families, a large reason why a yearlong membership currently clocks in at only $25.

“I feel like there aren’t many other choices for families,” Dolan said. “There are things to do, but a lot of things are prohibitively expensive. This seems to be the main event for school-age kids during the summer who need a place to be all day that is fun and safe and accessible for families, especially when there are multiple kids.”

Despite operating on a strict budget, the North San Mateo Clubs have maneuvered themselves around lack of funding into a position where children and teens alike are presented with several chances to mature and explore.

The South San Francisco Boys & Girls Club summer camp offers five one- and two- week sessions for nearly 80 campers and CITs at a time between the ages of six and 18.

During the summer, campers enjoy a number of field trips during the week, and this summer has incorporated trips to the San Mateo County Fair and the Exploratorium.

“Personally, I think they need it to kind of get out of their own realm because a lot of the kids never really have been into the city,” said Gabby Gonzalez, game room coordinator at one South San Francisco location. “None of them have ever been downtown really. So I think it’s good to get them out of what is normal for them.”

Gonzalez has done a large part in overseeing and planning field trips for the duration of the summer, and she commented that one of the more positive aspects of the trips, surprisingly, was the unorthodox methods of transportation.

“A lot of the field trips we’ve been taking, we’ve used public transportation,” Gonzalez explained. “It might take a little longer but it’s fun because they get that experience. When we went to San Mateo County Fair, we took Caltrain and then walked. We do a lot of walking.”

Aside from opportunities outside of the Club, the inside of the Club also houses a multitude of chances to expand upon one’s creative interests.

The West Orange location harbors everything from an arts and crafts room, for children to participate in ceramics and pottery making, to a digital arts lab, stocked with computers equipped with graphic design programs.

There is also a music studio for older kids, consisting of guitars and keyboards.

“It’s really about helping kids find their path,” Dolan said. “When they’re younger, it’s about having lots of different choices and figuring out what they like. Then, when they get older, it’s about career exploration and helping you move from high school to college or your career.”

Possibly the most important aspect of the club is the tutoring and mentoring provided with after-school programs.

Dolan explained that the quality of life for certain families is largely affected by the children’s performance in school.

“Eighty five percent of the kids that came here last year said that their grades had improved as a result of the help they got after school here,” said Dolan. “That I think is probably the parents’ favorite part; the affordability of it, knowing it’s a safe place for their kids, but also their homework is getting done before they get home.”

Still, Dolan hopes that community involvement with the Club will continue to grow, which in turn, will allow the Club to offer more programs to children and teens in their neighborhoods.

Charging only $25 for a membership means that the Club has to raise close to another $1 million in order to adequately serve 3,000 kids per year, a population number that Dolan would certainly like to see go up.

“We could have more kids here, but we’re kind of at capacity in terms of our staffing and that has to do with being able to raise more money to have more staff,” Dolan said. “I think, in some ways, we’re a pretty well kept secret here in South City. People know we’re here, but I don’t think people necessarily know how much community support really means to us.”