BY MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
GLASGOW NEWS 1
The Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County on Tuesday afternoon introduced dozens of club and community members to its new location.
The former New Farmers Bank building at 701 Columbia Ave. in Glasgow, officially acquired with the closing just earlier in the day, is to become the Craft Innovation Center – the home of the local club unit.
Club CEO Mallie Boston said she had invited the Craft Foundation at the beginning of last year to come tour the current facility and then later submitted a formal grant request to the foundation for $2 million, which she’d learned last month the club would be receiving. That, combined with the $1.1 million in state funds recently received allowed them to make the expansion.
“With the Crafts’ help, we’re able to purchase this building and get to rolling,” she said of local native Kelly Craft and her husband, Joe Craft, for whom the foundation is named and who were on hand themselves for the announcement. “We laid out our idea, and Kelly and Joe were gracious enough to recognize the difference it would make.”
Kelly Craft, with her husband, Joe Craft, beside her, speaks about the Crafts’ investment in the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County on Tuesday afternoon. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
The club has most recently been operating out of the Housing Authority of Glasgow HERO Center, but Boston said the lease there was ending in September, and she’d had her eye on this place, which had been owned by K & M Services, for several months.
She told the slew of children who were seated on each side of the podium in front the building that it probably seemed to them they were just looking at a bunch of strangers, “but I can promise you that about every adult face you see in the crowd, at one point or another, has done something to directly benefit your club.”
Boston said the reality of it all was still sinking in with her and the rest of the staff. While they’re appreciative of all the facilities they’ve been able to use before, “We’ve never had anything to this extent presented to us,” she said. “And it would not be possible if it wasn’t for Joe and Kelly Craft.”
Kelly Craft said Boston deserves the credit, and she is a hero for each of the children served, “and that’s why we’re here today.”
“It feels so awesome to be back home in Barren County,” she said, adding that in her travels around the commonwealth, she hears a common thread: concern for children and grandchildren and their futures.
Craft said that building behind her was where she had her very first job, answering the telephone switchboard for the bank.
“The reason Joe and I really had the desire to invest in the Boys & Girls Club is because Mallie invited us to take a tour …, and we were just so touched by the innovation, by the future, by the potential that each of these kids has, not just for Barren County but for the state of Kentucky,” she said.
She talked about wanting to make certain that each of those children has the opportunity for a quality education and to become exactly what they dream of being, whether it be a surgeon, a graphic designer, a teacher or a law enforcement officer.
“And it all starts here today. It starts with each of us investing in each of them,” Kelly Craft said.
Joe Craft said he and his wife “are constantly trying to find a way to help those who want to help themselves.”
He said they’ve been so impressed with the people who are involved with the club – with their hearts, their desire and their passion that it was an easy decision for them to make that investment, because they know that the people who support it have already made it successful, and it was an honor to be able to help.
The crowd begins to move outside for Tuesday’s announcement that the former New Farmers Bank building at 701 Columbia Ave. is going to be the new home for the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
Boston has big plans for the roughly 22,000 square feet of space that all belong to the club.
The ground floor will focus on food service and administration. The bottom floor will focus on our fifth grade and below. The top floor is to be split into two wings, but there is a lot of work to be done before then.
“During the daytime, we plan on offering things for workforce development for older – 18 to 25 [years old] – while our kids aren’t there, because we want to utilize the building as much as possible, and obviously, we hope for this to be a community center as well for anyone in the community to utilize as they see fit when our kids aren’t here, but in the afternoons and summer camp, the two wings upstairs will focus on arts and humanities, our technology and career, and then focus on our teens,” Boston said. “But the biggest part about this is, logistically, we have over 100 kids every year on our wait list that we can’t pull because – we’re in a wonderful building at the housing authority but it’s limited in size, and this will allow us to pull from that and also not just that but we’ll be able to double our numbers for how we can serve.”
A banner touting the new name greets visitors at the former New Farmers Bank building at 701 Columbia Ave., which is going to be the new home for the Boys & Girls Club of Glasgow-Barren County. MELINDA J. OVERSTREET / GLASGOW NEWS 1
The teen center and recording studio will be on that top floor as well, she’d said earlier.
She said she’s been with the club for almost 11 years, and they’ve never not had a wait list for membership, but this space will allow them to completely remove that wait. Boston’s voice cracked with emotion at being able to say those words.
She also took a moment to recognize her staff, board members and other volunteers who have done so much to help the club along before inviting the gathered crowd to enjoy the refreshments waiting within the building.
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