CARTER LAKE, Iowa (KMTV) — In this edition of the Morning Lift, 3 News Now's Zach Williamson picks up the Chief Operating Officer of the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands, Tom Kunkel.
Kunkel has served the clubs here in the metro for 42 years and is set to retire this coming January. In that time he has watched the number of clubs in the metro grow from three to 12 — two in Iowa and ten in Nebraska.
You can find all 12 locations, along with all the programming and opportunities the clubs provide, by clicking here.
In the video above:
The drive starts at the Lakin Foundation Carter Lake Club
- The new facility opened in August of 2024. We get a look inside.
- The club has been on the property, and has been a big part of the community, since the 1970s.
- Kunkel talks about the importance of providing a safe, positive environment to go to after school and get involved
Kunkel tells us about the seven locations attached to schools in the metro
- The partnerships with Omaha Public School, Millard Pubic Schools and District 66
- Seven clubs are attached to local schools
- We drive by the club at Florence Elementary
- Boys and Girls Club pays for the addition to the school, then the school owns the property.
We hear he benefits of being attached to a school
- Parents don't have to worry about transportation to after school programming
- Enables staff to have close relationships with teachers
- Can work with students on things they're struggling with in school
- Sharing facilities with the school that otherwise go unused
- Partner with the food program in the district to provide kids with a hot meal when they stop by the club
- Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands served more than 173,000 hot meals to kids in 2024
- How much the clubs have grown since Kunkel came to the metro
- Used to see about 400 kids a day
- Now, the clubs see more than 1,500 kids daily
- Kunkel talks about the importance of having a safe place, programming and good staff
- He says, in many cases, students ask staff members to attend parent-teacher conferences for them
- We hear about all the programming opportunities
- The clubs serve kids between the ages of 5 - 18
- Membership costs $30 a year
- Focus on three areas
- Academic success (Reading programs, math programs, homework help)
- Health & Wellbeing
- Character & Leadership
- Areas inside every club to support those three areas
- "Club programming doesn't stop after high school"
- In June, 48 graduating seniors and Club alumni received more than $485,000 in scholarships to attend an accredited 2- or 4-year college, university, vocational training or nursing school
- Since 2019 the Clubs have invested $2.3 million in post-secondary education
- Staff dedicated to continuing to check in on college students to support them through any challenges that arise
- Challenges the clubs are facing
- Kunkel says they're concerned about the impacts the pause in SNAP benefits will have for their families and clubs
- Always looking for more staff and volunteers
- To donate, apply for a position or to just learn more about the Boys & Girls Club of the Midlands — click here.
