Oakland ~ A former house of mourning soon will be filled with laughter and life. What was once the Laurel Chapel Funeral Home at 3300 High St. has been reborn as a spacious, welcoming Boys & Girls Club.

An airy new gymnasium with a stage and music practice rooms has been added to the back, while the rest of the building has been remodeled into game rooms, a homework center, computer lab, an arts and crafts room and an oversized teaching kitchen.

Construction is complete, and as soon as staff are hired the clubhouse will open -- possibly next month.

It is the club's first new facility in 50 years. It's also the largest, designed to serve 2,000 youths ages 6 to 17 in Central East Oakland. The other two clubhouses are in West Oakland and East Oakland.

"We didn't want it to look at all like a funeral home because we are serving the other end of the spectrum," said Boys & Girls Club President Calvester Stanley.

The building's major donor even wrote a check for an additional $100,000 to replace a shingled roof with a bright-blue tin one to make the transformation complete. Now, the only hint of the building's former life is the peaked ceiling and rafters in the game room, the former chapel.

Stanley has spent the past several years shepherding the $7 million project. It was a "labor of love," said Stanley, who spent his own youth at the East Oakland clubhouse.

The project was funded almost entirely by local, private donors, with smaller amounts from corporate sponsors. Oakland businessman Dan

Whalen contributed a little more than $3 million, which covered the purchase of the $1.3 million building and got the ball rolling for other donors.

"I feel like I got help when I needed it," Whalen said, explaining his motivation for the gift while touring the building Thursday. "I got lucky, and I wanted to give something back locally."

Whalen, who has lived in Oakland for 18 years, said he grew up with a single mom who raised four children by herself. His hometown wasn't big enough to have such a facility, but he said he would have loved to have had one.

Whalen made his money building cellular phone systems before selling his company seven years ago to pursue a life of philanthropy and investing. Though at first he turned down Stanley's offer of naming rights to the building, he changed his mind when his mother died during construction. It is now named the Anna Marie Whalen Branch in her honor.

Another local family, the Simpsons, gave $1.5 million for the new gymnasium. The Wayne and Gladys Valley Foundation pitched in an additional $1 million.

Stanley said he had hoped to open the clubhouse for summer but had to cope with inevitable construction delays. The organization has been renting space temporarily at the Allendale Recreation Center.

On Thursday, the shiny gym floor was still unmarred by tennis shoes, and the stainless steel Viking stove and double-wide refrigerator in the teaching kitchen were pristine. Power outlets lined the walls in the computer room, waiting for new computers to arrive. Club administrators were unpacking boxes in the upstairs office area after moving from cramped quarters on Grand Avenue.

The clubhouse will serve as a safe place for young people to hang out after school and during the summer months and is filled with recreational activities. But Stanley considers the library/learning center, which will be staffed with professional educators, to be the most important room in the building.

"Of course, this isn't their first choice of something to do after they have been sitting in school all day, but we call it 'power hour,' or the 'brain center,' and offer them some incentives," he said.

Members are expected to spend their first hour at the center doing homework before going on to shoot hoops, play foosball or watch one of the new 50-inch televisions. There are also many opportunities for outings to baseball games, local museums or fishing sites.

Youths pay $25 per year for a membership. When entering the clubhouse's different rooms, they'll swipe their cards so the organization can track their activities on a new software system.

"(The membership fee) really does more for us philosophically than for our bottom line," Stanley said. "It makes them feel like this is their clubhouse, they are members, and it gives them a sense of ownership."

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland now serves 1,500 young people. The group is aiming to increase participation to 5,000 by 2005. The East Oakland clubhouse has recently been renovated, and next on the agenda will be the 54-year-old West Oakland center, located in one of the poorest parts of town.

A community barbecue will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to celebrate the new building. It's open to members and their families, as well as other community representatives and neighbors.

Those wishing to contribute to the new facility can purchase an engraved brick or paver that will be set into the entryway. Donations for the bricks range from $100 to $1,500. For more information, call 444-8211.

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
(510) 208-6447
(510) 208-6477 Fax##
lmclaughlin@angnewspapers.com Email