Boys & Girls Club to be named after governor

By Jennifer Cesarz

Correspondent

Gov. Scott Walker visited his hometown last week for the announcement that the Boys and Girls Club

of Walworth County will be named after him.

Walker and his wife, Tonette Walker, supporters of the Boys and Girls Clubs in Milwaukee and Madison, attended a breakfast Tuesday DATE at Lake Lawn Resort. There, the Boys and Girls Club of Walworth County advisory committee announced that the club, set to open in Delavan this year, will be called the Gov. Scott Walker Chapter.

Tonette and Scott Walker spoke at the breakfast. Tonette Walker recounted statistics she read in the Delavan Enterprise about the Boys & Girls Club – that 62 percent of students in the Delavan-Darien School district are considered economically disadvantaged and fewer than 15 percent participate in extra-curricular activities.

“I was shocked and surprised,” Walker said. “I couldn’t believe it. Good things can come out of a Boys and Girls Club here.”

Countywide, about 35 percent of the 16,000 students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Boys and Girls Club of Walworth County Chairman Judy Mueller said the club’s target date to start is October 2013, and the club will serve children between 7 and 18 years old.

The club is working with the Delavan-Darien School District about the possibility of using school space — a move that would allow more children to be served because of the convenience of transportation for the students.

Muller said that in communities with a Boys and Girls Club, graduation rates increase and juvenile crime decreases.

“Often times being poor, the doors don’t open up. We need to open the doors. Our youth cannot wait any longer,” Mueller said.

For the rest of the story please pick up a copy of the Delavan Enterprise