Friday is the End for Boys and Girls Club

The Mount Pleasant Boys and Girls Club over the last few weeks looked a lot like it has for years and years.

Little tykes painted purple horses and red skies. They were served healthy lunches, and counselors rounded up boisterous teens for various sports.

All the activities were punctuated with laughter. Lots of it. But this week marks the end to the 55-year-old club.

Read a on the Boys and Girls Club's closure.

The Boys and Girls Club of the Trident Area will fold on July 31, and despite requests for someone to run the Mount Pleasant club, there have been no takers.

“The situation is pretty much unchanged,” said Robbie Kennamur, the Boys and Girls Club board chairman. “The club will wrap up the summer program on Friday and that’s it.”

Charleston partnered with a number of charitable groups to run its three Boys and Girls Club facilities under new names.

“We’re always hopeful, but so far Mount Pleasant is the only one of our locations that won’t transition to another operator,” Kennamur said.

The Boys and Girls Club has for years struggled financially, and this year its board of directors opted to simply close shop rather than to ask donors for a bailout. It was simply too hard to raise money in the Charleston area, according to executive director Anitra Pregiato, whose last day with the organization was earlier this week.

“Leadership challenges and financial struggles have been issues. There is just a very competitive market for non-profits, and fundraising is very difficult,” Pregiato said. “Ultimately we didn’t feel like we could sustain the program long-term.”

The Town of Mount Pleasant filled in last summer when the club ran out of funds, but the town’s budget has no room to assume the club’s $100,000 annual operating budget, said Eric DeMoura, town administrator.

Roughly 40 children are enrolled in the Boys and Girls Club program this summer. They received free lunches and dinners, and during the school year, the facility opened at 2 p.m. to begin afterschool tutoring and other activities.

“The Boys and Girls Club was more of a developmental program,” Kennamur said. “It wasn’t just fun and games. That was a component, to make it fun, but it was more about developing the child.”