Boys and Girls Club applications are available

Boys & Girls Club of the Flathead Reservation and Lake County opened up for the school season on Monday. The Ronan site is located on Highway 93 next to Java Junction and the Polson site in the basement of the St. Andrews Episcopal Church. Both are fully staffed and providing safe and fun activities for club members, including homework help.

All children ages 6 to 18 years old are welcome to the club. Applications are available online at bgclynx.org or can be picked up at either club site. After applications are turned in there is a one-day waiting period then the new members are set for the rest of the year. The membership year runs from January 1 through December 31.

Club hours during the school year are from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. except on school holidays or teacher prep days when the club is open from noon until 6 p.m. Parents should follow the school calendars closely in both Polson and Ronan.

Club staff members in Polson meet club members at Linderman elementary after school and walk them to the club site, which is about a block and a half from school. Cherry Valley children are also only about three blocks from the club. Thanks in part to the efforts of the late Pete Jensen, former transportation director of School District #30 in Ronan, a bus brings the elementary school club members to the Ronan club five days a week.

The Ronan facilities, now going on eleven years, are leased from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes for only a dollar year. The Polson site is rented to the club by St. Andrews and opened its doors for the Summer Program that ran from June 14 through August 20. Both units are equipped with electronic tracking systems to record the data used for attendance and safety purposes. Every club member is issued a special membership card, which can be scanned into our system daily.

For more information about the club please call the club unit directors: Lee Schnase, Ronan 675-5437; or Christine Memmel, Polson 883-0521. You may email the Ronan site at hope@ronan.net or the Polson site at bgcpolson@polson.net. The club website is bgclynx.org.