Campbell County’s Boys and Girls Club is now official

The Campbell County Community Foundation cleared a major hurdle in its quest to establish a Boys and Girls Club in the county.

Last Thursday evening paperwork was signed allowing the Campbell County organization to be taken under the umbrella of the Boys and Girls Club of the Cumberland Plateau.

“We’ve done a lot of work to get to this point,” Fred Cole, foundation member, said of the journey the group had taken to become a branch of the Scott County facility. “Now we’re an official organization.”

According to Cole, the next step will be securing club sites for operation in both the LaFollette and Jellico areas.

“It is pretty much a done deal that we will be using the old West LaFollette School for the LaFollette site. We are also working with Mr. (Curt) Chitwood at Jellico Elementary on the possibility of using that school as the Jellico facility,” Cole explained.

Organizers are also working with the board of education on plans for transporting students to the after school program.

Cole said to date the foundation had commitments for approximately $70,000 of the $125,000 needed for the program’s start-up.

Money generated will be used to maintain a site for the clubs as well as curriculum, staffing and other needs.

In addition to planning fundraisers to bring in cash for the program, Cole said its status as an official branch Scott County’s organization will allow for the application of some grant money as well.

“There are a lot of grant opportunities and hopefully some funding available to us in the future,” Cole said.