It’s the 25th anniversary for the Boys and Girls Club of Marshall County!
While the facilities in Plymouth and Bremen have been closed in response to COVID-19, Director Andrew Fitspatrick told the Marshall County Commissioners last week that they had curbside snack pickup throughout the closure of schools. They are currently offering virtual content for the students involved in the club.
Fitspatrick anticipates a reopening date in June for the Plymouth site.
“We’re currently looking at a June 15 opening for the Plymouth Club at 50 percent capacity to hopefully get us into July and see where we’re at with the State,” said Fitspatrick. “Then we can look at our capacity and whether we’ll increase that or not.”
He added that reopening in June is a little “nervewracking”.
“Obviously we’re just concerned. We don’t want to be part of the problem and have things spread,” he said.
A guideline for reopening the facilities was presented to the Boys and Girls Club Directors in a meeting last week. They will be following the guidelines from the CDC and state and local health departments.
As for the Bremen facility, the reopening date is July 6 since the programs are held on the Bremen Public Schools’ campus and they are closed until June 30.
Fitspatrick anticipates a sharp increase in costs in order to keep up with cleaning and disinfecting efforts, and maintenance.
Fitspatrick commented, “We estimate our costs for cleaning and being open and all this extra stuff we have to do with the ratio of staff of 1:10 and the kids and the separation and the cleaning supplies to be about $15,000 more a year. That’s just a current estimate. I’m still putting together numbers and working with the United Way and our State Alliance.”
He asked the commissioners for a possible increase in the county’s contribution. Commissioner Michael Burroughs said there is a holding pattern in funding for right now as it is unknown how things will look with the budget due to COVID-19. They will discuss it at budget time which is right around the corner. The county currently contributes $12,000 toward the Boys and Girls Club annually.
