Tuscaloosa Nonprofit Launches $5 Million Capital Campaign to Renovate Clubhouse & More

A Tuscaloosa nonprofit for area children launched a $5 million capital campaign Thursday as they seek funding to renovate their clubhouse in Alberta, expand access to programming and much more.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of West Alabama have created safe places for thousands of young people to enjoy for more than 60 years, and the organization's leaders and supporters gathered at their Jaycee Park Clubhouse Thursday to announce the initiative, called A Legacy of Hope.

Kim Turner, the President & CEO of the BGCWA, said the goal is to raise $5 million to significantly overhaul their clubhouse and expand the Club's Mobile Fleet, adding branded vans and even a Mobile Clubhouse RV so it's easier to visit parts of west Alabama further away from their headquarters in Tuscaloosa.

"Some people say 'Hope is not a strategy,' and I will disagree with you," Turner said. "An almost 20-year study out of the University of Oklahoma tells us if we instill our young people with hope and the ability to dream big, they are more likely to finish high school, less likely to get in trouble with the law and they are less likely to get involved in risky behaviors. And that's exactly what the Boys and Girls Club says we do. So it makes sense to instill this hope and also leave a legacy of hope for years to come."

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Turner was joined by leaders from all over the community, including the deputy chief of the Tuscaloosa Police, Sebo Sanders.

"Today, at this time, we're challenged by a lot of evil things in our community. Violent crime is at a high. It's sad - 27 years I've been police and this is the worst I've seen," Sanders said. "We need programs like this Boys & Girls Club to pass on knowledge to our kids."

Sanders noted that with the year less than halfway over, there have already been 12 homicides committed in the city of Tuscaloosa and a few more in other parts of the county - far ahead of historical numbers for the area - and too often, young people are involved.

"Turn on the TV, we have teenagers getting killed, teenagers getting shot, teenagers who've been incarcerated for a senseless crime and you ask them, 'What is going on??' and they don't have any idea," the police leader continued. "It's sad and it's time for us to save our community. That's why the Boys and Girls Club is important."

The program also featured a moving testimonial from Yolanda Stockdale, a member of the BGCWA board of directors but also an alumnus of its programming who first joined the Club in 1990, when she was 7 years old.

"This is not just a place for kids to come after school or just hang out," she said. "It really is a part of who I am and it made me who I am today."

From her childhood club membership to her first gig there as a junior staff member, from a work-study program in college to her current seat on the nonprofit's board, Stockton has seen most all the club has to offer.

"I always credit it as my second home because it was literally across the street and I credit it for me being who I am today," Stockdale said. "I don't have any siblings and both my parents are deceased and through all those times, I feel like the people I met here were my brothers and sisters. When my father died, when my mother died, the Club was right here with me - as a child or as an adult."

As Turner revealed some of the plans to come, she surprised Stockdale with the announcement that a learning center in the renovated clubhouse be named in her honor, along the Nick & Terry Saban Elementary Computer Lab,

The crowd also heard from LaMorris Bester, a standout Hale County High student and longtime Club member.

The campaign launch was MC'd by Chris Stewart, the voice of Alabama Athletics, and another familiar face for fans of the Crimson Tide was on site Thursday for the event - Greg Byrne, a longtime supporter of the Club and the host of the annual Mal Moore Memorial golf tournament.

"Each of us every single day has an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the people we're around. When I focus on myself, me, myself and I, I'm not as good a husband. I'm not as good a father. I'm not as good an AD. I'm not as good of a friend," Byrne said. "But when I try to think about other people every day single day, I got a better chance of being all those things and those are values you're learning every single day of the Boys and Girls Club."

"You all are going to be rockstars in our community, leaders for what's ahead, and we need you - we need each and every one of you," Byrne said.

To learn more about the campaign and make contributions online, head to their website now, and for more coverage of events around west Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.