Boys & Girls Clubs Organization Clears Hurdles To Build East Austin Site

EAST AUSTIN, TX -- During their regular meeting on Thursday, city council members approved a change in zoning that will enable construction of a Boys & Girls Clubs location in the University Hills neighborhood.

The action ends a longstanding dispute among nearby residents who caught a case of NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome given the organization's work with disadvantaged youth.

To assuage their concerns, Boys & Girls Clubs officials agreed to construct a six-foot-wall on the property southern portion in order to obscure it from homes as a buffer of sorts. To further appease residents opposed to its construction, the Boys & Girls Clubs will build a 40-foot private driveway on Turner Lane that will act as an alternative entry point from Manor Road.

The new site will be located at 4717 Turner Lane.

To the uninitiated, the transformative work of the Boys & Girls Clubs organization is but an abstraction. But the organization has long helped disadvantaged youth stay on the right path of life through its myriad offerings engaging young people and inspiring them to reach their personal achievements.

During the citywide day of charitable giving "Amplify Austin," one young lady who went to the program spoke of the difference the Boys & Girls Clubs made in her life. She initially discovered her local Lanier facility by accident, finding herself without a ride back home after school.

"It just turned into a second home, a really safe place to hang out," Melanie Webster, the clubs' Youth of the Year, told KXAN-TV in an in-studio interview.

Once nearly paralyzed by social anxiety, she said the club helped her overcome her fears, develop friendships and find mentors.

"I am naturally a loner," she said. "It's really hard for me to make friends because I have a lot of social anxiety at times. Without them, I would probably be by myself."

She said the organization helps disadvantaged or at-risk youth overcome their hardships, often inspiring them to pursue their education beyond high school. Webster is living proof: She told her interviewer she's due to start college at the University of Texas at Austin this August.

"It's definitely one of the things I learned," she said. "That I can do anything."