DeLand Boys & Girls Club's future teen center named for longtime director

DELAND — Naming rights for a new building often are reserved for those responsible for significant financial contributions to its construction.

The future teen center coming to the Lacey Family/Spring Hill Boys & Girls Club will bear the name of someone whose contribution to the club has been priceless.

For more than 20 years, Althea Ross-Chavers has put her time, energy and love into the club located in the same community in which she grew up.

"Who ever would have known this little Black girl growing up in Spring Hill would one day have her name on a building in Spring Hill?" Ross-Chavers said Wednesday during an interview at her club's headquarters on South Adelle Avenue.

Even a month after learning the teen center would be called the Althea Ross-Chavers “The Beautiful” Teen Center, the club's longtime director still finds it hard to believe.

"Then my kids were, like, 'well, Miss Althea, why not?'"

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For others who know Ross-Chavers and the impact she's had on countless hearts and minds, no one else is more deserving.

Joe Hearn, the current president of the nonprofit's board, said he was happy his fellow board members saw it that way, too.

"I’m grateful to our really dedicated board of directors," Hearn, an award-winning event planner, said in a phone interview. "Everyone knows her, she just gives everything she has to those children and to that community in general."

Joe Sullivan, the longtime chief professional officer of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Volusia/Flagler Counties, echoed that sentiment.

"I think this is a great way for us to pay tribute to her legacy," Sullivan said in a phone interview. "She's got kids that come back and see her all the time. She's a tough, strong woman who's saved and changed lots of lives."

Hearn said they hope to have a groundbreaking by next spring at the latest with the club potentially opening that summer.

"Once we get started it’ll move pretty quickly," Hearn said.

Grand goals

Sullivan, who founded the first club of the Volusia/Flagler Counties branch in Deltona in 1992, said the organization is looking to raise $1 million; they've so far received two $100,000 donations and some smaller financial gifts.

He said some of the money will go toward addressing issues at other clubs — the building used by the organization's New Smyrna Beach club took in about 2 feet of water during Tropical Storm Ian — but the bulk of it will go to the new teen center.

Sullivan said the nonprofit's leaders looked at trying to renovate a 1930s-era building they already use on the Spring Hill club's campus, but they determined it's not salvageable for what they want to do for the teens.

Parts of the mural on the old building's exterior are crumbling, so Sullivan said he's contracted with the original artist to recreate it on metal panels that will be affixed to the future building.

"One of the problems we have with getting teens into our clubs is they want their own space," Sullivan said. "We're hoping that setting up our own teen center is going to be a way to attract and keep teens involved because those are crucial years."

Hearn said creating a space for the DeLand club's teens was one of the goals he set when he became board president.

"When they get out of school, having them on the street or being in an environment where they're not progressing, but possibly regressing, is not a good thing," Hearn said. "They really don't have a space that's kind of their own cool place to just be, to grow, to learn and do things that teenagers do."

He said he envisions the space as a place where the club's teens will learn and enjoy arts, culture, music, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities and gaming and computers.

Hearn also said he wants it to be a space where they can get information and advice about post-secondary education and career opportunities.

Making a difference

Over the years, Florida TaxWatch has pointed to the far-reaching positive impact of organizations focused on children and teens, including the Boys & Girls Clubs.

Florida TaxWatch is an "independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit taxpayer research institute and government watchdog," according to the entity's website.

Its 2013 report "The Florida Boys & Girls Clubs: An Analysis of Educational, Juvenile Justice and Economic Outcomes" found that club participation led "to educational success, which is realized through reducing student absenteeism, grade retention, and dropouts; and of avoiding contact with the juvenile justice system."

There's a financial benefit, too.

The report states that the "economic impact of participation in Boys and Girls Club programs ranges from short-term taxpayer benefits of:"

• $5,000 in cost-avoidance for each student kept out of the juvenile justice system;

• $46,000 in cost-avoidance by not incarcerating a youth;

• more than $9,000 in cost-avoidance for each student that is not held back a grade

There's also an "aggregate lifetime earnings increase of nearly $29,080,000 for each 100 additional high school graduates," according to the report.

Ross-Chavers said her younger club members already are looking forward to the day they're old enough to enjoy the teen center.

"My biggest thing for the kids is having a safe place," the 63-year-old said. "And I always tell them, 'I can't control what happens in your school or in your home or out into the community, but when you get here, no matter how bad things are out there, you know you're in a safe place; you're in a place where people are gonna listen to you, you're in a place where you could actually just be you."

While retirement draws closer, Ross-Chavers still loves her life's work.

She said she's told herself she'll retire at 65, but then she realizes two years is too soon.

For all of her club's successes, Ross-Chavers said the negative stories still knock her down and make her question what she could've done differently.

"But my goal is to keep doing what I do, believing in them and being here when they call," the breast-cancer survivor said. "If they need me, I listen."

Ross-Chavers said on her own bad days, her club kids turn things around.

"It's a joy doing what I do," Ross-Chavers said. "I enjoy living my life and being able to help someone else on this journey; it fulfills me."

For information on how to contribute to the teen center fundraiser, visit bgcvfc.org. 

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: DeLand Boys & Girls Club teen center to be named for longtime director