The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Kenai Peninsula spoke with KSRM about openings for their after-school program in some locations, including the opportunity for potential day-camp services if schools are once again forced to shift to 100% Remote Learning. They also have methods of ensuring any family who needs to participate is able to do so.
Rachel Chaffee, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Kenai Executive Director spoke with KSRM News about some of the current openings, and what is required to participate: “There are some after-school programs that still have some openings, which is great. We still have some openings at our Soldotna Elementary and Soldotna Montessori school sites. So, if a youth is enrolled at Soldotna Elementary or Soldotna Montessori, we’d love to have them. We require membership. The membership fee includes after-school programming, but it also allows you to take advantage of some of the other programs that come up later on. The membership fee is $120 for a calendar year.”
Despite the membership fee, she noted that there are options for students in-need: “Given that a lot of people are in a tough spot right now, if they have a free-and-reduced lunch letter, or they receive Denali Kids Care, if they have some sort of letter documenting that, because we’re trying to make it easy on everybody right now, with proof of that, we’re offering scholarships based off of the type of assistance they’re receiving. If it’s free-or-reduced lunch, they get 100% scholarship for their membership fee, for example.”
A recent decision by the City of Kenai has also opened up some off-site opportunities for students in Kenai: “We also have openings in our Kenai facility – it’s an extension site. The City of Kenai approved our extended lease to offer after-school programming and day-camp services to youth. That allows us to serve kids off-site. It’s most commonly known as the ‘Beacon facility.’ In that facility, we have openings for Mountain View families and Kaleidoscope families. At that site, in particular, if school shuts down, it turns into a day-camp the next day. So, if families aren’t facing disruption of their ability to work.”
Dinner is also included: “In all of our after-school programming right now, we’re providing dinner service, so everybody receives dinner free-of-charge at our after-school programs.”
Registration can start online by visiting their website. For families attempting to sign up for sites that are full, they are offering take-home materials for students to utilize after-school, until openings pop-up.