Boys & Girls Club Takes Root in Port Jefferson Station

A couple of months into its opening in Port Jefferson Station, the Boys and Girls Club of Suffolk County is digging its heels into a new location on Jayne Boulevard, preparing for warmer weather and summer camps and – so hopes Executive Director Devon Daniel – the day when the nonprofit reaches its 200-student capacity at the North Shore Christian School.

The after-school program currently hosts about two dozen students at the private school facility, also the home of Calvary Baptist Church, while BGC programs remain open for students at Gelinas Junior High and Murphy Junior High, in the Three Village School District. 

The program opened briefly at Flowerfield in St. James in 2008, before Daniel took over, and last fall moved its offices from N. Country Road in Setauket to Sheep Pasture Road in Port Jefferson.

Since its after care program has taken root in Port Jefferson Station, starting on March 1, the BGC has started partnering with Comsewogue School District, shuttling buses from each of the district's schools to their after care program – which runs from 3 to 7 p.m. – every day.

While the nonprofit's charter mandates it serve kids from age 6 to 19, most kids find other interests around the early high school age, Daniel says - though he's trying to keep them involved in other forms, mainly as peer mentors. Most students in the after care program range around ages six to eight.

"Kids learn well from kids," Daniel said. "They might shut off to us because we're older, but there's something cool about talking to a high school kid." 

College kids, too: program coordinator Dina DiMeo said members of the Stony Brook University women's volleyball team is coming on May 16 to hold a class with kids.

The facility on Jayne Boulevard offers nine acres for youths to play on, with ball fields, a field house, playground, classrooms to do homework in, a computer lab (for which the BGC has purchased 10 new computers), rooms for family counseling and even a full service kitchen which Daniel hopes to utilize for diversity sessions.

A summer camp the BGC offers – which will be staffed mainly by local students – will run from July 8 through Aug. 30, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Extended hours until 7 p.m. could offer the chance to get a taste of other cultures, he said.

"Because, what's the greatest common denominator? Food," he said.