Komatke Boys and Girls Club Groundbreaking

KOMATKE. At long last a new facility for the Komatke Boys & Girls Club has become a reality. Saturday, May 3 marked the groundbreaking for construction of the site at 51st Avenue and Pecos Road in District 6.

Samantha Johnson welcomed the crowd, stating that she was proud and honored to be selected Youth of the Year for District 3. The Boys and Girls Club have enriched Johnson’s life so much that she feels that it has saved her life. According to East Valley Club executives half the club’s participants nationwide have expressed this sentiment. Johnson went further to state that she foresees a good future ahead of her, which may even include political office.

In attendance was Governor William Rhodes who acknowledged the efforts of those who were instrumental in coordinating and implementing the effort to construct the new club. Rhodes especially thanked Terrance Evans, District 6 Council representative, and support from the Community Council for funding the multi-million dollar project. The Governor commented that conditions at the old facility were beyond repair and many difficult months were endured without air conditioning.

Rhodes forewarned that funded projects like this should be utilized. He went on to cite that the pool at the D6 Service Center should be staffed for the betterment of all and vowed to bring more ventures to the West-end of the Reservation.

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Jason Jones, who is a long-standing employee of the Boys and Girls Clubs, has been named Executive Director of the D6 branch.

The 29,500 square foot facility comes with the price tag of $5 million dollars and will feature two gymnasiums, cultural, teen and learning centers, as well as computer, game, and classrooms. One gym was designed with community events in mind and is situated next to a full-service kitchen. The auxiliary gym also features an elevated stage. The outdoor play area includes lights for football, baseball and soccer fields. The facility also includes an outdoor fire pit.

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Summit Builders of Phoenix is the general contractor and the project architect is W.H. Pacific, a native-owned firm located in Mesa, Ariz., who incorporated indigenous designs into the facility.

A Little History Behind The Boys and Girls Club

My name is Terrance B. Evans, and I am proud to say that I have been involved with the Boys & Girls Club movement since its inception back in 1995. I still recall the day, when I worked at the District 6 Service Center as the Assistant Coordinator, when former Governor Mary V. Thomas called me to ask if I heard about the “Boys & Girls Clubs of America”. Apparently she had just come back from a meeting and she wanted to bring the concept of a Boys & Girls Club to Gila River Indian Community.

As I understand the Boys & Girls Clubs of America based in Atlanta, Georgia formed an Indian Advisory Council, where former Governor Mary Thomas was appointed to be a member of this Council. Native American Actor Rodney Grant and Craig Barrett of Intel Corporation provided their support of this whole new concept of a bringing Boys & Girls Club to Native America. So after several meetings and months gone by, former Governor Thomas arranged for me to meet Ramon Elias the President and CEO for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the East Valley here in Arizona.

Mary explained that we would work on a partnership with Ramon and his organization. So after awhile, we agreed that the old St. John’s Cafeteria & Gymnasium to be the site for the first Gila River Boys & Girls Club. I remember the day we went to look at the old building, we didn’t have keys to it and there was no electricity, so we just looked through the dirty and dusty windows trying to figure out if this would work.

Eventually with the help of Keith “Rocky” Fohrenkam, we had the power turned on and changed out the locks. Now the clean up starts! About this time, I met a young individual named Chilo Figueroa; Ramon told me that he was going to run our new club out here. I used to take Chilo around the Community introducing him to different people and he started to be a familiar face in the Community.

After sometime, Mary Thomas asked the Council for an official Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) so we can start operation of the Boys & Girls Club. Most of the Community Council at that time never heard of a Boys & Girls Club, it was a new name within the Community. So the Council decided to give us 6 months to prove that it would work in the Community of District 6. They called it a 6 month pilot project and once we were approved for the 6 months, Ramon Elias contacted the INTEL Corporation who had an outreach volunteer program that did renovations, etc.

So about 250 INTEL Corporation employees came out to the old St. John’s Cafeteria & Gymnasium to clean, change out the swamp coolers, fix the wiring, replace lighting, put in a new air conditioner, etc. It was a monumental day! They had to set up tents outside to feed all the workers. Not to long after that day, we opened the doors to the First Gila River Indian Community Boys & Girls Club. We had children & teens come from District 6 and neighboring District 7 to see what a Boys & Girls Club was all about.

Around 1997 we formed a Gila River Boys & Girls Club Auxiliary Board to provide some direction on how the Boys & Girls Club on Gila River will operate and to make certain we have funding to continue to operate the Club. Since that day, with the great help of former Governor Mary Thomas we have come along way, from building a NEW Boys & Girls Club in Sacaton for the children & teens there in year 2000 to aiding other Arizona tribes about starting a Boys & Girls Club in their own Community.

Gila River Indian Community was the first in Arizona to have a Boys & Girls Club on Native Land. Now other tribes such as Navajo Nation, Tohono O’odtham Nation, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and Pasqual Yaqui Indian Community have a Boys & Girls Club in their own communities.

There have been people in the past that have worked hard to keep the Boys & Girls Club here in Gila River Indian Community. Some noteworthy individuals who were instrumental in the past are: Burdette Morago, Penny Hayes, Letha Lamb, Former GRIC Chief of Police Luis Martinez, Anthony Villareal Sr, Robert Pablo, Greg Mendoza, John Giff, Paul Murray, Myron Schurz, Former GRIC Police Chief Ken Kiowaski and Nancy House. These individuals gave countless hours of their time to support the Boys & Girls Club while serving on the Gila River Boys & Girls Club Auxiliary Board. I am grateful to all of them!

Our current Boys & Girls Club Auxiliary Board members are Chairwoman Sylvia McCabe, Trina Hart, Leon Cook, Joanne Miles-Long, Kami Hart, Kristina Morago, Barney Enos Jr. and I. So from 1995 to 2008 the movement of the Boys & Girls Club has come a long way. With the generous support of Governor Rhodes & Lt. Governor Allison-Ray & Members of the Community Council, we officially broke ground on Saturday, May 3, 2008 for the NEW Komatke Boys & Girls Club in District 6 Community. We had a good turnout of Community members young and old to witness the groundbreaking ceremony.

It was a beautiful day and we all look forward to the NEW Boys & Girls Club. In closing, in order to move forward, I believe it is always important to reflect on the past and remember where we have come from. Thank you for your time in reading this small piece of history of our Community and when you see these individuals named in this article thank them for their time & effort to help our youth.

Respectfully submitted,

Terrance B. Evans
Gila River Boys & Girls Club Auxiliary Board Member