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The Boys & Girls Club of Las Cruces is working toward a milestone that could change how our community’s young people learn, play, and grow. The Mabee Foundation has offered a $1.5 million matching gift to support the Club’s Building Great Futures Capital Campaign, a $14.2 million effort to build a new, state-of-the-art facility. To receive the gift, the Club must raise $4.4 million by July 2027. To date, $9.8 million has been raised of the $14.2 million necessary for the project.
The Boys & Girls Club of Las Cruces has been part of the Las Cruces landscape for decades. In 1965, it made the long-term move to what many residents know as the old Presbyterian Church on Las Cruces Avenue. Since then, the building has been a home away from home for tens of thousands of youth.
It has never compromised the Club’s mission, but at just over 6,800 square feet, it limits how many young people the Club can serve consistently each day. A building of its age also brings frequent, costly repairs and lacks the infrastructure for the technology and tools young people need to succeed in the 21st century.
“We have dreamed of the day when youth walk through the Club’s doors at the new facility and see that our community built something just for them,” said Abel Covarrubias, capital campaign chair of the Boys & Girls Club of Las Cruces. “The current Club has changed lives in a building that has given everything it can. Now we have the chance to give those kids a space as big as their potential and show them that our community believes in doing all we can to help them build brighter futures.”
The new 30,000-square-foot facility will allow the Club to serve three times as many youth in an underserved region of southern New Mexico. It is part of a citywide initiative to revitalize the El Paseo corridor. Plans include a state-of-the-art STEM lab, a full-size gymnasium, a separate wing for teens, and spaces focused on the arts.
For the young people who count on the Club, the difference would be tangible. One Club member shared, “The Club is the place where I feel like I belong. A new building would mean more kids get what I get here—a safe place, friends, and people who believe in us. I can’t wait to see a STEM lab and a real gym.”
The Mabee Foundation’s gift is a vote of confidence in Las Cruces, but it is available only if the community helps the Club reach the finish line. Every contribution, large or small, brings the campaign closer to its goal and to unlocking the additional $1.5 million.
With Giving Tuesday quickly approaching on Dec. 1, every gift donated to the Club on this international day of giving will be counted towards the capital campaign, making now the time for individuals, families, businesses, and community organizations to come together for the next generation.
To learn more about how you can make a difference for the Boys & Girls Club of Las Cruces and the Building Great Futures Capital Campaign, visit www.bgclascruces.org or contact the Club’s CEO, Ashley Echavarria, at (575) 526-1519.
