Renovation of South Haven Boys & Girls Club nearly complete; club is $1.5 million short of fundraising goal

Dave Motsinger was just a kid in 1982 when he helped shovel dirt at the groundbreaking for the Boys Club on Long Run Road. This week, he grabbed a shovel with his daughter Alexis as he visited the club again to see the extensive $5.5 million renovations at the Boys & Girls Club.

His father, Dick Motsinger, was instrumental in the construction of the South Haven and Portage clubs.

Dave Motsinger remembers playing ball on the Little League fields in South Haven before the new club was formed. As a club member, he made “numerous friends.”

“You met someone and if there was a spark, you played basketball, soccer” and more, Motsinger said.

On Tuesday, he checked out the progress of renovations at the South Haven Club and reminisced about the fun he had there.

Alexis is a member of the Valparaiso Club.

Frank Brunker joined the tour. Brunker had been visiting the club since 1989 and sometimes walked there from Portage to spend time with the woman he would later marry.

Brunker played ball with the then sports director in the gym and enjoyed basketball, soccer and other sports.

“It made me a better person. It taught me to treat people with the respect they deserve,” he said.

Stanley Rhodes, who joined in 1985 at age 12, learned to play pool at the club. “For my first two years, all I did was come here and play pool six hours a day, five days a week,” Rhodes said. “I have some talent and I started here.”

Today he plays pool in bars. Rhodes values ​​the friendships he has made by joining the club, calling them “like a brotherhood.”

Mike Jessen, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana, gave them a tour of the club. Or rather, he led them until they walked away recalling various events that had taken place in predetermined rooms of the building.

“It brings back some touching, haunting memories for them,” Jessen said. “We’ve helped a lot of children over four decades.”

Major construction work on the club’s renovation and expansion is expected to be completed in about four weeks, Jessen said. New furniture will be installed next. “It will undoubtedly be finished by the start of the school year,” he promised.

The club has been closed since last summer, and in the meantime, South Haven’s two elementary schools have been used as locations. “We have a wonderful relationship with Portage Township schools,” Jessen said. Children from Portage Township are bused to the clubs in Portage and South Haven for free.

Before closing for renovations, the South Haven Club served about 150 children daily. Jessen hopes the club will serve 250 or more children once it reopens.

Approximately 2,500 square feet have been added to create storage space in the back to free up space for additional programs and in the front to provide additional security. Visitors to the club will be buzzed in and there will also be additional doors.

“Anyone who hasn’t been in the building before will come in and think it’s all brand new,” Jessen said.

The renovations include a new roof, a new heating and ventilation system and new plumbing. “All the mechanical parts were so old that they had to be replaced,” Jessen said.

The previous mini gym was split into different rooms for programming, and a sensory room was created to create a calming environment for children – or staff – who are feeling overwhelmed.

A small extension to the rear of the building would make a big difference for the club, Jessen said. The long, narrow storage space could accommodate a minivan if needed.

The renovated restrooms have sinks in an open area outside the restrooms so children are less likely to get into trouble. “It’s a small gesture that makes a lot of sense,” Jessen said.

The parking lot is new and the club’s footprint is larger. A vacant lot was purchased to provide the club with drainage space and additional outdoor recreation area. After Indiana American Water removed a no longer needed water tower, this land was also donated to the club.

Jessen said some people have wondered why the Portage and South Haven clubs weren’t merged into a new large facility along U.S. 6. “If we built a building on Route 6, for example, the continuity of the neighborhood would be lost,” he said. Where the South Haven building is now, kids can safely walk or bike, Jessen said, although there are no sidewalks in the massive development.

“It’s such a unique community,” he said. He believes South Haven, with about 8,500 residents, is the most populous unincorporated community in Indiana.

Now that the $5.5 million capital campaign is entering the public phase and looking to raise the final $1.5 million, the nonprofit faces some challenges. Unlike Valparaiso, where the new club cost $9.5 million, South Haven doesn’t have many wealthy donors or corporations to contribute.

About 70 percent of children here qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, said Denise Koebcke, vice president of philanthropy at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Northwest Indiana.

The club is partnering with the Food Bank of Northwest Indiana to provide on-site food lockers. Food bank clients can enter a code to pick up needed food from an assigned locker, Jessen said.

The South Haven Club is one of ten facilities in Northwest Indiana and will be the fifth to be newly built or renovated in recent years.

The Cedar Lake Club was built a year earlier but didn’t show as much wear and tear. “This one has been used and abused more,” Jessen said. “We still have a lot of work to do on the others.”

In fall 2025, the organization hopes to begin construction on a new club in Merrillville, which will be located behind the Dean and Barbara White Community Center.

Four women in Hartford, Connecticut, founded the first Boys Club in 1860 after deciding that boys needed something to keep them out of the streets. Girls joined in 1990.

“Imagine the streets today,” Jessen said. “There is much, much more hardship than in 1860.”

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.