Dear editor:
The Concerned Citizens to Save the Boys & Girls Club came together at the Boys & Girls Club of Hot Springs on Saturday. We were 55 strong, or more, and there was a diversity of people in attendance: two justices of the peace, two lawyers, donors and the concerned citizens of Hot Springs.
There was much discussion about the Boys & Girls Club closing at the end the month. Virtually no one in attendance to save the Boys & Girls Club had any idea that the club was about to close, or that it was in such bad financial shape to the point of closing the door for good after 75 years of serving the diversity of over 800 children yearly.
What will happen to the poor children, who will be impacted by and affected by the most by the closing of the Boys & Girls Club? I think the YMCA is an excellent organization, but I don't believe that the YMCA is able to deal effectively with the poor children that the Boys & Girls Club is now serving ... and this is why? The Boys & Girls Club is in their neighborhood. If a parent could not pick them up at closing, they could walk to their caregiver's home and, besides, many of their parents don't own cars.
The YMCA does not have same organizational structure as the Boys & Girls Club. How much will it cost the poor children's parents for the after-school program? Sure, they will get some cost relief, but it will still be an increase in cost to the poor children's parents, which they can ill afford ... then what becomes of the poor children? Oh! I know, into streets, then into the legal system.
As many children who were at the rally to Save the Boys and Girls Club said: What are we going to do now with tears in one of their eyes? As I have researched to getting as much information as I could to answer the No. 1 question: Why did the board for the Boys & Girls Club fail the children of the Boys & Girls Club so miserably?
James C. Lowery
Concerned citizen
Editorial on 02/20/2018