DBP tops off funds For Boys & Girls Club

The Boys & Girls Club of Phillips County announced Thursday a combined gift of $295,000 from the Delta Bridge Project to complete the funding needed to go forward with the full vision for their flagship facility and to purchase the 18 acres of property directly behind the Club for future expansion.

“We were delighted to have had an opportunity to ‘lay the final brick’ in this campaign and set the stage for future growth,” said Joe Black, executive vice president of Southern Financial Partners, which administers the Delta Bridge Project.

“What we love most is that this building project was 90 percent complete before we ‘bridged’ the final gap,” said Black. “That’s the kind of enabling work that the Delta Bridge Project is all about.”

“This is truly a momentous accomplishment for our community,” said board President Tim Schuringa. “This would not have been possible without the phenomenal outpouring of support from within our community, from the children who emptied their piggybanks to the $100,000 donors.”

In all, nearly $1.1 million was raised from sources both inside and outside of Phillips County to make the new 18,800 square-foot facility a reality.

“While I’m proud that we managed to bring over $450,000 into Phillips County in 2007 that otherwise would not have been here, I’m even prouder that the majority of funds came from within the community,” said board member Doug Friedlander. “Anyone who has a bad thing to say about Phillips County, its people, and its prospects for the future will now have to answer to this achievement.”

Board Member Brian Miller agreed.

“I imagine this will turn heads across the state of Arkansas, from Texarkana to Jonesboro, from Little Rock all the way back to Phillips County,” he said.

In fact, the news has already turned heads farther away than that.

“When I was in Dallas recently for a Boys & Girls Club conference, I attended a session on fundraising in rural communities,” said Boys & Girls Club Executive Director Jason Rolett. “As it turned out, we - the Boys & Girls Club of Phillips County – were the example they offered for everyone else to follow. In fact, I learned that in certain measures of fundraising success, our small-town Club exceeded a number of major, well-established Boys & Girls Clubs in rural and urban areas of the country. That is truly a testament to the extraordinary nature of this community.”

 Archive: September 2008 | Section: Phillips County, Delta Bridge Project, Southern Financial Partners, Southern Bancorp