1,000 BOYS & GIRLS STRONG FACILITY HITS MILESTONE IN FIRST YEAR.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

CANYON COUNTRY - Ernie Vandewalle got so excited Wednesday he almost forgot his hat.

The 8-year-old second-grader from Sulphur Springs Elementary School was at the Sierra Vista branch of the Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club for an impromptu ceremony for the presentation of his membership card - Number 1000.

To commemorate the occasion, club director Lori Huggins tried to place a baseball cap with the club logo on it on the boy's head, but he was too busy craning around for a look at the activity center and gymnasium.

For a club that started out as an oversize shack at the corner of the school's athletic field, the modern facility has exploded into a lively center of youthful activity.

``This feels really good to go over 1,000 members,'' said Huggins, who moved to Southern California after leading clubs in the Portland, Ore., area. ``Many of the kids who are here never experienced a club before and would have been out on the streets while their parents were working. Here, they have a safe place to come every day.''

Huggins' sentiments were enthusiastically echoed by Suzanne and Violet Vandewalle, the mother and grandmother of Ernie and his brother, Robert, 12, a sixth-grader at Sulphur Springs.

``We wanted to keep them busy over the summer,'' explained Violet. ``I knew they had activities and it was a safe, supervised place where they could build their self-esteem.''

The club has three facilities - the main office is between Placerita Junior High and Hart High School near Newhall Park, and there is a satellite facility in the activity building at Val Verde County Park - where 2,500 young people between the ages of 7 and 17 can take advantage of a wide variety of programs.

``The first couple of months we wondered what membership was going to be like,'' Huggins said. ``When we opened June 30 of last year, we had 43 kids, with one waiting at the door for us to open. Then we saw 100, then 200, then 300 kids a day coming in without any advertising. This was all word of mouth. We knew then that we were definitely filling a need in the community. And you can tell that they really want to be here.''

She compared the 27,000-square-foot facility to those she ran in Oregon, saying the challenges of size and activities might be different, but the rewards were the same.

``This club is just as diverse, even though the clubs in Oregon were smaller. There is a need here - more so than any other club I've worked. There are just not enough affordable options here for children and this fills that need,'' she said.

``I look forward to seeing the kids every day,'' she continued. ``There is a great sense of community in the people here; you can see that in the support we get at the auction. That's a celebration of what we do and it raises money for the programs we provide. Of course, as we grow, the need for support is greater as well.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) SCV Boys & Girls Club director Lori Hughes hands the club's 1,000th membership card to Ernie Vandewalle.

David Crane/Staff Photographer