EDUCATION

Holland Boys & Girls Club receives A Community Thrives grant

Mitchell Boatman
mboatman@hollandsentinel.com
The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holland was awarded a $12,500 grant through the A Community Thrives Program. The money will be used to close education gaps for virtual learners.

HOLLAND — The Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holland has been awarded a grant through the A Community Thrives program via the Gannett Foundation.

The $12,500 grant will be used to help provide support to local students to close the gaps in education that are expanding during COVID-19.

“Our grant is for virtual help in closing the education gap that is becoming very big during COVID,” said Kerry Boyce, resource development and elementary director at the B&GC South Side location.

“Schools have been virtual, then not, then virtual again, it’s been back-and-forth. It’s been difficult on kids, parents and teachers. We’re trying to bridge that gap right now in any way possible.”

The grant will help pay staff salaries so the club can be open more often and provide additional services. A major service recently has been helping students through periods of remote learning.

“If students didn’t have reliable access to the internet, they could come to the club,” Boyce said. “We were making sure the kids were getting on all of the Zoom calls they’re supposed to be on, that they’re turning in their assignments.”

By having the club open to help remote learners, it frees parents up to go to work and not worry about whether or not their students are doing their school work, Boyce said.

“The grant helps pay our staff to be there more hours, which is needed for our community to function right now,” Boyce said.

“We’re going to keep trying to do what we can based on what the community’s needs are. We’re doing the best we can to help kids in all different circumstances.”

Part of grant eligibility was meeting a local fundraising requirement of $6,000 dollars. Boyce thanked the community for their support in meeting that requirement.

“The community did a really good job of getting us to that point,” she said. “It’s great to see the community rally around our kids. I think it’s important to remember that when giving to our kids, you’re also giving to parents, to teachers, to the whole community.”

A Community Thrives is a grantmaking and crowd-funding program from the USA TODAY Network and is funded by the Gannett Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Gannett, parent company of The Holland Sentinel.

A Community Thrives supports nonprofit organizations with projects focused on community building and has helped to contribute more than $12 million since 2017. Holland Sentinel Editor Sarah Leach was a member of a regional market committee that decided fund distribution.

— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @SentinelMitch.