Boys & Girls Club of Vienna member Kaylani M. puts together a circuit using batteries to power an LED light. Boys & Girls Clubs of Parkersburg, the parent organization to the Vienna site, recently received funding from the Milan Puskar Foundation to help enhance programming to the organization as more kids are served. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG – Boys & Girls Clubs of Parkersburg was recently awarded $25,000 from the Milan Puskar Foundation to continue to enhance and expand youth development programming at the Mary Street and Mineral Wells sites.

“Now that we’ve opened our Vienna site and continue to expand transportation to more schools, funding is becoming more and more crucial, and we are incredibly grateful to the Milan Puskar Foundation for these dollars,” said Interim COO Darlene Murphy.

Formed to honor Milan “Mike” Puskar, the Foundation’s mission is to “improve the quality of life in the state of West Virginia,” according to its website.

“We certainly help improve quality of life for the youth in our area by offering affordable memberships, and foundations like the Milan Puskar Foundation help us make that happen. We are making youth development programming more accessible to our community through grants like this along with the Nita M. Lowery 21st Century grant which allow us to offer low or no cost memberships across all of our sites, reaching members from kindergarten through 12th grades,” Murphy said.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Parkersburg offers evidence-based youth development programming that focuses on academic success, character and leadership, healthy habits and career and workforce readiness.

Members are served free meals and are served in nearly every school in Wood County. The club also offers an affordable summer camp that involves field trips and other enriching activities along with programming.

“Our costs to serve one child are approximately $5,000 per year to facilitate the services we offer. Every dollar we receive goes directly to support our mission of enabling youth, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible adults,” Murphy said. “We now serve nearly 300 kids per day across all sites, and we couldn’t do so without partners like the Milan Puskar Foundation.

The local club is continuing to expand. The Chamber of Commerce of the Mid-Ohio Valley will be holding a ribbon cutting for the opening of the club’s Vienna site at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Vienna Elementary School at 700 41st St. in Vienna.