Boys & Girls Club a good first step

The three-year promise of a Carson Valley Boys & Girls Club was kept on Monday morning when a chapter opened at Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School.

The concept of a Boys & Girls Club in Carson Valley was first floated by retired professional football player JoJo Townsell, whose Mefiyi Foundation has provided Valley children with an outlet for years.

Now the Boys & Girls Club offers a more diverse collection of activities for Valley children. Boys & Girls Club members don't just play games.

They also participate in study sessions, computer classes and a variety of other activities that make them better students.

We would like to congratulate proponents of the club, who've been working very hard to bring it into existence over the last three years.

Townsell and other members of the board of directors for the Boys & Girls Club of Carson Valley are still working toward a permanent site, but in the meantime, they are taking advantage of the open space at the Gardnerville Ranchos middle school during the summer.

And it didn't cost the taxpayers of Douglas County a nickel.

In the coming months, organizers will kick off their campaign to raise money to build a permanent site.

That campaign will be a long one. We're confident that given the dedication shown by proponents so far, they will have no difficulty.