Belvidere Township, YMCA partnering to benefit youth

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Wednesday, 03 August 2011 14:18 Bob Balgemann

BELVIDERE – Boone County youngsters are expected to benefit through Belvidere Township’s plan to buy the Eagle’s Club building on Locust Avenue in downtown Belvidere.

A town meeting has been called for 6 p.m. Friday (Aug. 5) at the township office, 8200 Fairgrounds Road, so the township’s electorate can approve buying the 7,000-square-foot building for $150,000.

Programs would be run by the Belvidere YMCA, which board President John Kaufield said has been trying to expand for a number of years. He added that staff is excited about the potential and already has come up with different types of activities that could be offered at the building.

He called it “a great opportunity. This came along at a great time.”

Township Trustee Bill Robertson said the township always has been supportive of young people and its budget has a line item with money that can be used to benefit the community.

“We need more space for youth programs and the proximity (of the building) to the Y is good,” he said. “We need to keep our youth off the streets.”

He said the board wasn’t certain how much good the acquisition would do. “We want to try,” he said. “The Y is maxed out of space. This would allow us to reach more people.”

Township Supervisor Pat Murphy sees it as a win-win for the entire community. In addition to providing more space for youth programming, he said the building could complement what is being offered at the Belvidere Community Center and at the Keen-Age Center. But the big benefactor should be the young people of Boone County.

He said he didn’t think a lot of renovating would be necessary. “It’s well built,” he said. “It’s been referred to as a bomb shelter. I hope they (YMCA) can begin using it fairly quickly.”

“This is an opportunity you don’t get very often,” he added. “There is a lot of potential not only for youth but for the entire community.”

The YMCA board of directors has endorsed the concept, Murphy said, and the Eagle’s Club ownership has accepted the township’s offer of $150,000.