Boys & Girls Club of Hernando County has received an influx of donations and memberships.
By BETH N. GRAY
Published September 16, 2003
SPRING HILL - News of the financial problems facing the Boys & Girls Club of Hernando County has prompted a rally of giving and a new interest in memberships, club officials said.
Board treasurer Carol Freeman said Monday that the troubled nonprofit has received about $5,100 in donations, including an anonymous gift of $1,000. Several individuals each gave $100 and several more donated $50 apiece, Freeman said.
The recent cash infusion will enable the 4-year-old club to meet payroll and pay current bills, she said.
In the face of the cash crunch, the club's executive director, Julie Rodriguez, resigned under pressure last week as board members announced its plans to close the club that provides before- and after-school activities and recreation for about 70 children ages 6 to 17 at a facility on Applegate Drive.
But that decision was reversed by the end of last week as donations poured in.
"That's why we're still open," Freeman said.
As part of the fallout from last week's events, Freeman planned to turn over financial records Monday to an independent auditor, who is donating the service. The audit should be completed in about two weeks, she said.
The audit was prompted after board members were surprised to find the organization's bank account was nearly depleted earlier this month. The account didn't contain enough money to cover a week's expenses so the board initially announced a shutdown of the club.
Rodriguez was required to have an audit done last year, but didn't do so, board members said.
The audit is expected to provide answers to the organization's financial problems.
"There seem to be some discrepancies in the books," said board member Chris Kingsley.
Since the organization's troubles first surfaced, only one Boys & Girls Club member has dropped out, Freeman said. On the other hand, the club signed up two new members this week and the staff has received phone calls from other parents interested in enrolling their children.
"All the turmoil we've had didn't affect the number," of kids in attendance, Freeman said.
As the club struggles, the board's main focus is promoting a major fundraising golf tournament Oct. 8 at Seven Hills, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of the Nature Coast. Meanwhile, board members are looking elsewhere for money.
"Absolutely (we're) putting forth a new search for grants," Freeman said.
Rodriguez didn't apply for grants as she had been expected to, and the club lost out on a $50,000 grant it had expected to receive, Kingsley and Freeman said.
The board had been led to believe that grants had dried up because of the tight economy.
But Jean Rags, director of Hernando County Social Services, said that's not the case. When they heard of the club's plight, Rags' staffers tapped into the Internet and, in only a cursory search, came up with at least seven sources that provide money for community-school initiatives by nonprofit organizations.
"It's a matter of getting out there and finding what qualifies," said Rags, who added that the Boys & Girls Club has not contacted her office for assistance.
In the few years after the club was established in 1999, the County Commission earmarked between $2,000 and $3,000 annually for the program, Rags said. But with a later change in the commission's donations policy, the club has not received county funding.
