Free after-school program back at Union College Boys & Girls Club

Rachel Dorroh • August 23, 2023
Kids giving a thumbs up gesture during a Boys & Girls Club activity.

School’s back in session, and so is the Union College Boys & Girls Club’s (UCBGC) after-school program. All kids in grades K-12 are welcome to join the Club, and there is no cost to families. A unique partnership between Union College and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appalachia, the Club provides a safe, positive environment with access to many resources, including homework help and a nutritious snack and dinner each day.


“Our mission is to inspire and enable all young people to be successful, productive, responsible citizens, so everything we do is through that lens,” says CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Appalachia, Kateena Haynes.


Located in the Union Center for Health & Learning, the UCBGC offers many recreational opportunities, including access to the bike track and indoor pool. The Club also prioritizes mental health with programs designed to develop healthy habits and prevent drug use. The curriculum features six core areas: Sports & Recreation, Education, the Arts, Health & Wellness, Workforce Readiness, and Character & Leadership.


“We try to give kids opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have,” says Haynes. “We've been able to really level the playing field for a lot of kids.”

Club kids sitting on the floor in two lines drawing on a white canvas.

Haynes notes that field trips, guest speakers, and a chance to get acclimated to being on a college campus are also part of the Club experience. She says this helps broaden kids’ horizons and “takes away some of the fear of going off to college.” Haynes says she’s had “the good fortune to see many of these kids grow up” and find success as attorneys, doctors, and more.


(PHOTO: Club kids enjoy an art activity.)


One of those kids, Sara Donahue, has worked at multiple Clubs and is now the Youth Services Center Coordinator at Corbin High School. She’s passionate about the mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of America and hopes to see more Clubs open in the region and serve even more children.


“One thing that is consistent in all my roles at the Club, is that I got to see major life-change happen there,” Donahue says.


Union President Dr. Marcia Hawkins emphasizes that the UCBGC is open to all kids in grades K-12, regardless of socioeconomic status. “When kids are at the Club, they are all ‘Club Kids,’” she says.


It was Hawkins who first advocated for opening the Club and partnered with Haynes to make it happen. She had relied on the Boys & Girls Club in Arlington, Texas when she was a single mom there, and she wanted families in Barbourville to have access to the same excellent services and resources she’d had in a bigger city. 

Five Union College nursing students presenting to club kids about healthy habits using a large graph.

When the UCBGC opened in 2017, rural Club locations were unusual and there were only four college-based Clubs in the country. Now, the UCBGC has become a model of success: it has served hundreds of local families as well as countless Union students.


Haynes explains that in addition to its many youth services, the UCBGC also offers many kinds of real-world experiences that Union students can learn from as interns and volunteers. “Really just about any discipline, we can find something for you at the Boys & Girls Club that will help develop your job skills and help you become successful later on,” she says. 


(PHOTO: Union College nursing students visit the Club to teach the kids about healthy habits.)


Seeing the success of their partnership, Haynes and Hawkins have been, as Haynes says, “shouting from the rooftops” about the benefits of college-based Boys & Girls Clubs. 


“I’m very excited about the possibility that there will be other campus clubs and that we will gain synergies in programming, personnel, and interest from granting agencies and foundations that see the benefit of this kind of partnership,” says Hawkins.

“It's really just such a great, holistic, well-rounded model that we hope every college will pick up on it,” says Haynes.


The Union College Boys & Girls Club is located at 105 Center Street in Barbourville. Both the Knox County Public Schools and the Barbourville Independent School Districts offer bus transportation to the site.


Families who want their children to attend the after-school program can fill out a membership application for each child at bgcappalachia.club/ucbgc. Membership is free and open to all kids aged K-12. 


For more information about Club membership, the after-school program, the UCBGC’s other services, starting a Boys & Girls Club in your area, or supporting the Club’s work as a volunteer or donor, contact Kateena Haynes at (606) 546-1717 or (606) 273-6191.

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