Our History

The Boys & Girls Club movement can trace its history back to 1860 in Connecticut and there are currently around 4,700 Clubs across the US and on military installations. In a typical year, these Clubs serve a total of 3.6 million youth by providing snacks & meals, helping with homework, improving literacy rates, science exploration, building life skills, developing leadership skills, promoting workplace readiness, and most importantly by providing youth with a safe environment to learn and make mistakes.

The Boys & Girls Club of Western Lane County was established in 1996 as an extension of the Boys & Girls Club of Lebanon. Originally called the Boys & Girls Club of Lebanon – Florence Extension. By February 1998, the Club was self-sufficient enough to form its own nonprofit organization and the name was changed to the Boys & Girls Club of Florence. By 2000, the Club was renamed the Boys & Girls Club of Western Lane County as it was serving youth from Florence, Mapleton, Dunes City, and Reedsport. 

Over the years we have seen our program change names and move locations within the community, however, one thing that has remained a constant is our passion to see our youth learn real life skills and succeed at all they attempt.