A grand opening for the Boys and Girls Club of Peshawbestown will be held next Thursday, Oct. 4, at the Strongheart Center.

A 5 p.m. celebration program is planned, and will be followed by dinner at 6 p.m.

Funded by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa & Chippewa Indians, the chapter opened in March of this year, after the closure of the Boys & Girls Club in Suttons Bay.

“They began with a handful of kids and by mid-summer there were 125 members,” said Patricia Lewallen, executive director of the club in the Grand Traverse area. “They averaged 60 during the summer months, but that’s dropped off with the start of school.”

An estimated 25 to 30 students, ages 6 through 12, are transported after school to the Strongheart Center in Peshawbestown from Suttons Bay Public Schools.

“We’d like to have more representation from teenagers,” Lewallen said.

Five staff members – who include interim unit director Tonia Bailey and assistants Victoria Alfonseca, Grace Chivas, Keith Kilbourne and Denise Speers – are responsible for occupying students in five basic areas:

• Recreation and sports;

• Arts, including artist and crafts and music;

• Character building;

• Leadership and making wise decisions;

• Academics.

“We’ve been very successful attracting students from 6 to 12 years of age, but we’d like to be able to plans some activities for teens,” Lewallen said.

The Boys and Girls Club has a presence at Traverse City West Junior High and is seeking grant funding to establish a similar base at Traverse City East Junior High.