NOBLESVILLE — Youth services organizations across the state are feeling the benefits of a generous grant from Indy-based Lilly Endowment.
Lilly Endowment donated $30 million to the Boys & Girls Club of America in 2022, specifically to enhance and expand services of the clubs in Indiana.
Just over two years later, Boys & Girls Clubs of Noblesville is seeing the impact.
“We want kids to come here and have fun, but we want a safe environment with caring mentors and we wanna provide life-enhancing experiences," Executive Director Becky Terry said. “We are here for every child. We want to be the place where every kid every family feels like they belong.”
BGCN received $453,000 over the course of two years.
Terry says they used their grant in three different ways.
- enhance programming
- building projects
- support long-term financial stability
Since 2022, membership has gone up 21 percent and average daily participation has gone up 33 percent.
The club currently serve 376 kids a day.
“We stay in a 1:20 ratio because of our growth we’ve had to add our youth development professionals to our team," Terry said.
Aaliyah Jones loves coming to the Boys & Girls Club after school.
“It’s a place I can be with my friends instead of being with a babysitter or something," the sixth grader said. “I can like just meet people that aren’t in my school, people that I have things in common with and I’m not with them 24/7 but I can meet a lot of people and have a bigger friend group than I can reach in school.”
The grant has had a big impact across the state as a whole.
More than 40 new clubs have opened across Indiana, serving an additional 11,000 young people.
