Permanent Sultan Boys & Girls Club to open more than 4 years after fire

SULTAN — A new Boys &Girls Club is nearly ready to open after a Christmas Eve fire more than four years ago destroyed the building that previously housed the nonprofit.

The new $2 million building at 605 First St. on May 26 is to be home to programs that expose young people to education, art, sports and community service.

The Sultan Boys &Girls Club hasn’t had a permanent home since Dec. 24, 2010, when a blaze gutted the two-story building at 705 First St. and a day-care center next door.

After the fire, people in the community stepped up to make sure the club would continue serving Sultan children and teens without interruption, said Boys &Girls Club of Snohomish County Director Bill Tsoukalas.

“They’re the heroes,” he said.

Within hours, Volunteers of America Western Washington offered space at the nearby Sky Valley Family and Community Resource Center. The club has been operating there ever since.

Now, the nonprofit is getting ready to move into new digs on the VOA campus. The 6,000-square-foot building includes a game room, a computer lab, a kitchen and the VOA early childhood center. Tsoukalas said the location is close to schools.

Eventually, the Boys &Girls Club is to be expanded to include a 7,000-square-foot gymnasium.

“Hopefully, we’ll get enough funding from Olympia to build the gym,” Tsoukalas said. “We’re pretty confident it’ll be there.”

The nonprofit is waiting to see if the Legislature approves $340,000 that could be put toward building the gym. The VOA was awarded a $203,000 grant to reimburse the Boys &Girls Club for the early childhood center.

After the fire, the club received money to rebuild from private donors, the city of Sultan, Snohomish County and the state.

The city, which owned the burned buildings, decided to release about $1.2 million in insurance money to the nonprofit to build a new club. The Legislature in 2011 awarded the club an additional $500,000 in state money. The nonprofit also received $340,000 in Snohomish County community development grants.

The Sultan Boys &Girls Club will be led by Cherise Crawford. It will open with a full-time staff of four. Tsoukalas said he expects to hire more staff as attendance increases.

Before the fire, the Sultan club had about 525 members. That number has declined to about 300, with some children going to other clubs nearby, Tsoukalas said.

The new building is expected to serve about 1,000 members and also children who occasionally come in.

“It’ll be a safe place where they can hang out with their friends,” Tsoukalas said.

With the computer lab, the club will be able to offer more science, technology, engineering and math programs.

Tsoukalas said the nonprofit, which has 15 clubs across the county, works closely with school districts.

In the Arlington School District, the Boys &Girls Club compared standardized test scores of members with other students in 2013. Tsoukalas said the third-, fourth- and fifth-grade students who attended a club earned better marks in reading, math and science than their peers.

“That’s what’s supposed to happen when kids are engaged in after-school activities,” he said. “We want to help kids succeed, whether it’s in the classroom or in the community.”

Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.