Comments on: Georgetown Boys & Girls Club Fights Closing

By: life member

life member — Fri, 11 May 2007 18:41:49 +0000

This is an absolute shame. The bulk of the HQ budget is from corporate donations, does HQ employee any professional fund raisers? If they do and you combine them with the 90+ Board memebrs (all targeted to solicite a minimum amount), achieving a 14 million dollar budget should not be that hard. Has Hq looked at trimming some of the fat, executive salaries and unnecessary HQ staff?

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 06 May 2007 04:37:57 +0000

I read in the Post that they pay their executive director $$250k a year! No wonder they can't afford to keep the clubs open. This is supposed to be a non-profit, serving the public interest, not a large corp with a golden parachute for their upper management. I'm disappointed.

By: Washington City Paper: News & Features: Blogs

Washington City Paper: News & Features: Blogs — Wed, 02 May 2007 20:42:47 +0000

[...] the news that the Georgetown Boys & Girls Club might be sold, the staffers at the Jelleff branch have reached out to a facility facing a more uncertain future: [...]

By: Concerned Citizen

Concerned Citizen — Wed, 02 May 2007 18:23:49 +0000

Thanks for this balanced article about the short sighted and flawed decision to close and sell the Eastern and Jelleff branches of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington.

Will Gunn states that change is hard -- of course it is. He has NEVER run a non profit and is completely out of his league at the Boys and Girls Club. Under his watch, the organization has built a deep deficit and they see closing these two clubs as the answer to their financial woes.

Moreover, he is changing the mission of the organization to be exclusively about poor people. Are we supposed to check tax returns at the door to make sure boys and girls qualify for programs? His whole strategic vision rests on being where "kids need us most." And then they define that by meaning 200% of poverty line. So if your family makes more than $40,000 per year, Boys and Girls Clubs are not going focus on you anymore.

The two facilities cited are old and need renovation. But they are revered by the communities -- both of whom have recently lost other historic landmarks this week (Eastern Market and the Georgetown Library). Let's not let these valuable community assets be taken away from the kids who do in fact need the programs there, whether Will Gun and his cronies think so or not.

Please see http://www.savejelleff.blogspot.com