KUNA, Idaho — The population of Kuna has exploded in recent years. The once-small farming community is suddenly home to more than 25,000 residents, 11,000 of whom are children and teens.
The Boys and Girls Club of Ada County has recently launched a 10-million dollar campaign to address the need for childcare and after-school programs in Kuna.
“I’m still getting calls every single day, seeing availability, getting emails asking about availability. And I have to turn families away, unfortunately, because this building can not world any more kids,” said Eric Henderson, Boys, and Girls Club Kuna Director.
Recently the CS Beef Packers donated 4 million dollars to help expand club services in Kuna. CS Beef was having a hard time retaining employees due in part to the lack of childcare services.
“They came to us, and they said can you create a center where our employees’ kids can come, so it was just a perfect fit for what our community needed and what we really wanted here,” said Jodi Davis Gempler, Boys and Girls Club Director of Development.
The new clubhouse would triple capacity and serve more age groups. A new childcare center would care for children from infancy up to 5 years old, and the club could expand beyond its elementary school space to allow middle and high school youth to join the program. That means they would be able to serve about 1,300 children and teens a year.
“I would say this community needs it more so than any other community in the valley. Just because we are so limited in space and because of the growth we are experiencing,” said Eric Henderson.
The Boys and Girls Club hopes they can raise the remaining funds required to begin construction of the new facility by early 2023. If you would like to donate, click here.
