Campbell County Boys and Girls Club sees spike in families requesting assistance

GILLETTE — When the bus drops off local elementary students at the Boys and Girls Club of Campbell County, one girl refuses to come inside until 4:05 p.m. If her dad can make it to the club before then, he gets to keep the attendance fee — $9, as of January — that he’s desperate to save.

On cold days, the staff insists she wait inside the building, but on most days, her dad is there to pick her up as soon as the bus arrives.

If he doesn’t make it in time, she’s allowed to go inside. There, she’ll get an afternoon snack and access to some of the best kids programming she could ask for — extensive STEM education, emotional regulation curriculum and plenty of arts enrichment — for the cost of $9.

But for an increasing number of parents in Campbell County, the question of whether or not they can afford it has become a lot harder to answer.

Since the Boys and Girls Club sent out the official notification in November that daily membership rates would be increasing, the club has received 18 applications from families seeking low-income fee waivers.

That represents an exponential increase compared to the “handful” of applications that have been submitted over the past two years, said the club’s executive director Brittney Locken.

“I’ve been in this position for almost two years … (and) I’ve only received a handful I’ve needed to sign,” she said.

On Jan. 6, the club’s rates went up two dollars across the board. The morning prices went up from $5 to $7, and in the afternoon, it went from $7 to $9.

Locken saw the writing on the wall last summer. The club was hoping for a significant boost in funds from the “Soar-A” hot air balloon-themed dinner fundraiser held in September at the Gillette Airport hangar. (The dinner came with the chance to win a trip to Albuquerque’s annual hot air balloon festival.)

The fundraiser raised more than $10,000, which was enough to help cover repair costs on a boiler, but it wasn’t nearly enough to offset tuition costs.

The good news is that club enrollment has yet to see the impact of the spike in financial need.

Average daily attendance rates have stayed largely consistent since the fee increase went into effect. In 2023, the club’s daily attendance was 194, and in 2024 it was 202. Through the first two months of 2025, it’s averaged 197 kids a day.

And new enrollee sign-ups aren’t showing any signs of slowing down. Locken said that since the start of the year, the club has received 38 applications.

“So parents are still applying,” Locken said. “We’re not losing kids, but (there’s) a significant increase in parents saying, ‘I need childcare, but I can’t afford it.’”

The problem is that the club may soon not be able to afford it either. Locken said that at the rate the club is using its attendance fee funds this year, its account will most likely run dry.

This year, the Boys and Girls Club received $43,650 from the Optional 1% Sales Tax to cover attendance fees for low-income families. Locken said that in previous years, the club had received about $45,000.

Families who submit an application must report their income level and provide personal testimony about their financial needs. Locken said that as far as family situations go, a dollar figure doesn’t tell the whole story, and the club is adamant about looking at applications holistically.

“Monthly income doesn’t show that one of my kids has leukemia right now,” Locken said. “One of my kids’ mom just died. You’re not going to see that based off of monthly income. So in my opinion, the stories sometimes matter more.”

She said she’s seen an increasing number of parents desperate to save the $9 afternoon attendance fee. That includes one parent who told her he’s constantly trying to beat the bus that brings his son to the club after school.

“He’s going to come in, get a snack, have a safe place to go, which is great, but it’s going to cost him $9, right?” Locken said. “So he’s like, ‘I literally leave work in a rush, because if I can beat that bus, I will, so I don’t have to pay that nine bucks.’”

But as far as prospects for a much-needed funding boost go, this year might give the Boys and Girls Club a bigger lift than usual. The club’s annual golf tournament in June also happens to be its 25th annual.

Historically, fundraisers have only accounted for a small percentage of the club’s funds. But with increased community participation — and a greater awareness of how the club has made good on its plans to expand and strengthen its programming over the years — Locken hopes to change that.

The club promise

In August, Locken told the News Record the club was planning even more extensive kids programming for the short and long term, with the help of a few grants. As of March, many of those plans have already come to fruition.

At the time, the club was putting together its own little Area 59 of heavy-duty STEM equipment. Locken said the club was hoping to start a teen center within the next few years.

With funding from a $50,000 Daniels Fund scholarship, Boys and Girls Club now has the 3D printer and laser cutter it was anticipating. It has even started a podcast program; kids are currently working on a podcast that explores what it means to be a leader, Locken said.

“They each chose their own word. One kiddo chose bravery; another kid chose kindness. They’re going to talk about what these words mean in the podcast and interview people in the community,” Locken said. “You can’t get that anywhere else, can you? The Boys and Girls Club’s where it’s at.”

The Teen Center — paid for with the ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund) grant, a federal program meant to help alleviate COVID-19’s impact on education — may be an even bigger story.

With the help of high school volunteers from Campbell County High School, who helped unpack boxes of equipment and assemble tables, the Teen Center will be ready to unveil this summer.

The center will have MacBooks, a learning lounge and a conference table. Locken said she wanted to stock the space with things that’d directly help students with career development and academic growth.

Locken said that the goal for a teen center was to incentivize kids to attend the club as they become teenagers. But whether they’re teens, tweens or in elementary school, combatting the rising difficulty of meeting tuition costs may be half the battle.

To diversify

While grants help cover many of the Boys and Girls Club’s most high-tech programs, they still only make up a fraction of the club’s revenue, reaching about 30% in September.

The Campbell County club is still disproportionately reliant on its tuition fees compared to other Boys and Girls Clubs in Wyoming, like the $10-per-year Casper club. Locken said the Casper club’s consistent leadership has resulted in well-known fundraisers that bring in a significant amount of revenue, offsetting its tuition prices.

“They have a lot of community support,” Locken said. “They have great fundraisers they’ve been doing for years … they’re the dream.”

In Gillette, the Boys and Girls Club used to have a revolving door of directors and has worked in the last several years to build back community support. When Patrick Collier was hired in 2017, he was the organization’s fourth director in 14 months. But in his two years there, he helped bring stability to the club.

He was replaced by Nathan Grotrian, who led the organization for four years before taking a job as director of Campbell County Children’s Developmental Services. Locken now is close to two years as leader of the Boys and Girls Club.

Locken said it’s much safer for the club to have a diverse set of revenue streams to avoid over-relying on a handful of funding sources. But tuition fees do the heavy lifting in Campbell County — in September, those fees were 38% of the club’s total revenue, compared to 7.3% from fundraisers.

Right now, Locken said her top priority is to build community awareness when it comes to the Gillette club’s uniquely strong curriculum. If the club can bring in stronger fundraiser numbers, Locken said it could impact the club’s affordability.

“We prolonged this as long as we could. I did not want to have to raise tuition,” she said. “I want the community to know that. We did everything we possibly could in the means of that time period to not have to.”

This story was published on March 8, 2025.