Behind the Edgartown School on Wednesday afternoon, the Boys and Girls Club welcomed the Edgartown community, families, and stakeholders in youth education with the official groundbreaking on its new clubhouse, designed to accommodate what officials say is a substantial increase in demand.
The new facility, planned to be 21,530 square feet, almost doubles the size of the old club.
“It’s important we make this happen, because we are bursting at the seams in the current club,” Barbara-Jean Chauvin, executive director of the club, said in an interview with The Times. “It’s not serving the needs for the mission of our club and the mission of the community. We’ve seen a 55 percent increase in our preteen population, and 25 percent increase in our overall afterschool population, in just one year.”
The building will include a new full-size gymnasium, specialized programming spaces for STEM education, computer labs, new consulting spaces for the club’s mental health counseling services, and increased kitchen spaces to better support its food pantry, which produces more than 4,000 meals a month for club members.
Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony started with a group of young summer Boys and Girls Club “campers” serving as emcees for the event. They welcomed and thanked the crowd, dignitaries, and community members for their support before introducing Chauvin.
“For nearly 90 years, the Martha’s Vineyard Boys & Girls Club has been a cornerstone of our Island community, creating a lasting ripple of positive change,” Chauvin said at the podium on Wednesday. “Today, as we break ground on this new clubhouse, we are laying the foundation for countless more ripples to spread.”
The Rev. Mark Winters, pastor of the Federated Church of Martha’s Vineyard, led the gathering in prayer, and then Norman Rankow, president and chairman of the Boys and Girls Club board, took the podium.
“Since I became president in 2019, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing the club’s incredible impact firsthand. And now, with this fabulous new facility, we will expand that impact,” Rankow said. “We’ll offer more programs, serve more kids, and provide even more safe, welcoming spaces for them to grow, learn, and thrive. God knows they need our guidance even more than ever.”
Edgartown Town Administrator James Hagerty spoke to the importance of having a larger campus, as well as the determination of board members like Rankow in continuing the progress of the project.
“The town of Edgartown deserves something like that, and it’s all gonna come full circle over the next two years,” said Hagerty. “Norman was absolutely relentless; he was in my office knocking on the door, and he would not take no.”
Equipped with hardhats, Boys and Girls Club board members and community supporters, alongside young campers, dug into a ceremonial pile of dirt with shovels, and in sync threw the dirt into the air in celebration.
“[I hope the kids feel] like they belong … that we built this big, beautiful building for them,” said Chauvin.