Boys & Girls Club Reps-Ike Eisenhauer, Joe Stiewe, Mens Club Rep-Buddy Dixon

Ike Eisenhauer, long time Paul Bewie Boys & Girls Club Board Member and Joseph Stiewe, new Executive Director of the Club gave a very informative presentation on the status of the Club and the reasons for the recent changes. If you were not aware, the Club recently entered into an agreement with the Jesseville and Fountain Lake School Districts to aid all three organizations.

The basics of the arraignment were that the school districts  purchased the real estate and facilities then owned by the Club in exchange for the Districts paying off the debts of the Club, which were substantial and unsustainable.  The Districts are leaseing back to the Club, under very favorable terms, a portion of the property for after school and summer programs.  

The School Districts, for their part, were looking for a place to run their Alternate Learning Environment (ALE) , which they had been running in rented space in the facilities near the bowling alley on Hwy. 7, south of the Village. The Districts will expand the facilities at the Club location to handle these ALE classes in a more stable, and over time, less expensive model.  

The new relationship between the Club and the School Districts also has other benefits. It allows the three to work together more closely to serve the kids. The Club and Schools are working together to maintain the buildings and fields, as well as securing increased grant funding to help provide the very best for the kids. 

Joseph (Joe) Stiewe, is the new Executive Director, being hired in February of this year. Joe has been involved with Boys & Girls Clubs (B&GC) for some 40 years, having joined the local B&GC in Wisconsin when he was 7 1/2 years old in Wisconsin. He was most recently Executive Director of the local B&GC in Longview, TX.  Joe has a wife, Yvette, a son 26 years old, and daughters, 24 and 15. Joe explained that based on his review that the Club had become an after school day care, with few programs normally associated with a good B&GC Club. The intent is to restore these programs that will be allowed by the reduction in costs associated with the new association with the School Districts and  with the help of local volunteers and continued financial support from organizations such as the Sacred Heart Mens Club.