Reach For The Stars

MISSION  To enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Boys & Girls Clubs programs have taken members from the Clubhouse to the White House; from the games room to the corporate boardroom; from the high school orchestra to Carnegie Hall. Boys & Girls Clubs of America has a lineup of tested and proven nationally recognized programs that address today's most pressing youth issues, teaching young people the skills they need to succeed in life. More than 25 national programs are available in the areas of education, the environment, health, the arts, careers, alcohol/drug and pregnancy prevention, gang prevention, leadership development and athletics.

                                                     OUR HISTORY                                                             

 

 Boys & Girls Club of Desert Hot Springs was incorporated on January 29, 1981 as a nonprofit public benefit corporation.  Believing that the youth of Desert Hot Springs should have a positive place to go – where they could find role models, informal guidance, and a safe place where they could have fun and build character. 

The Desert Hot Springs Youth Center was supported by individuals, people making private donations to sustain the operation, and later by the City of Desert Hot Springs.  In 1978, the Boys Club of Palm Springs was contracted to run the facility and paid the operating expenses until the fall of 1979 when they pulled out.  The Youth Center had to find a way to continue.  A few months later, a group of concerned citizens decided to affiliate to save the agency.  The Boys & Girls Club of Desert Hot Springs was formed with 15 trustees of the new corporation.  They were: William Schultz (Chairman); Dan Warren (Vice Chairman); Sharon Hayden (Secretary); Norm Lowry (Treasurer); and John Furbee, Rev. Robert Ray, Jeanette Cawthon, Michael Bickford, Jim Fite, Rev. Jim Gutel, Rev. Bruce Sonnenberg, Elaine Harvey, Andrew Watson, Jean Kirby, and Madelane Garvin.  In 1982, the Boys & Girls Club of Desert Hot Springs became a member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

In 2006, the Boys & Girls Club of Desert Hot Springs celebrated its 25th anniversary, while nationally the Boys & Girls Club of America celebrated it 100th anniversary at the place of its inception, Boston, Massachusetts.  To recognize the fact that girls are a part of our cause, the national organization’s name was changed to the Boys & Girls Club of America in 1990.  Accordingly, Congress amended and renewed our charter.  In Desert Hot Springs we were ahead of the national organization when we incorporated “Girls” in our Club’s name in 1981 when the Boys & Girls Club of Desert Hot Springs became a California corporation.  Today the Club continues at the forefront by providing quality services for boys and girls.  It is the primary youth services agency in the city serving a target youth population of more than 8,000 kids ages 6 to 18 who live in the city and surrounding areas.