15th annual Wine & Wreaths benefit is Nov. 16
HOT SPRINGS – Over the past 15 years, the Boys & Girls Club of Hot Springs has evolved into one of the community’s most vital youth-oriented services. In fact, for many families, its hard to imagine what it was like before the facility first opened its doors in the Hot Springs Elementary School’s Multi-purpose Room on Jan. 5, 2009.
Matt Rippentrop, a single dad raising two boys, said he would likely need to move to another community if it weren’t for the local Boys & Girls Club. His oldest son McCoy, who is now a senior in high school, attended the club regularly when he was younger, beginning in the second grade – back when the club was located in the basement of Bethesda Lutheran Church. Matt’s youngest son Cole is now in the fourth grade and has attended since he was a kindergartener. Their dad Matt says the club’s afterschool program and Friday offerings are literal lifesavers for him and his sons.
“We couldn’t live here without it,” said Matt, while describing how the club not only provides a safe place for his boys to go when he is at work, but the staff also works very hard with the kids to keep them “on track and out of trouble.”
Coming up this Saturday, Nov. 16, the community can help show its appreciation of the club’s efforts by taking part in organization’s largest fundraiser, known as Wine & Wreaths, to be held at The Mammoth Site, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. The event is a festive celebration of wine, hors d’oeuvres and an auction of decorated wreaths, created by local artists, organizations and businesses.
The creation of the Boys & Girls Club of Hot Springs (BGCHS) started with a community-wide effort in 2006 through SDSU Extension known as the Horizon Study Circles, in which citizens met routinely to identify areas of need. From there, a Youth and Children Task Force was created which ultimately transitioned into a Boys & Girls Club Steering Committee after making a connection with the Boys & Girls Club of the Black Hills (BGCBH), which is headquartered in Hill City.
After a couple of years of planning, a full-time Unit Director was hired and a partnership was struck with the Hot Springs School District to utilize the elementary school’s lunch room – known as the Multi-Purpose Room – for the club’s after-school program.
With only five youth attending the club’s opening day after returning from the Christmas break during the 2008-09 school year, the club eventually outgrew the school’s space and then moved into the basement at Bethesda Lutheran Church & School, where it was located for more than seven years.
On May 9, 2018, the BGCBH secured a grant to purchase The Discovery Zone Child Development Center building at 105 N. River Street in downtown Hot Springs, which is where the BGCHS is still located today. This expansion was made possible by John and Dusty Pence who donated over $300,000 via their donor-advised fund at the Black Hills Area Community Foundation.
Currently, there are 155 youth members of the Hot Springs club, with around 45 kids that use the facility Monday through Thursday for its after-school program, which is open until 6:30 p.m. The Hot Springs School District allocates a bus to drop off all of those students each day around 4 p.m., with Prairie Hills Transit also assisting with dropping off additional kiddos from around the community including Bethesda Lutheran School. The cost is just $25 per child for the entire year.
To become a member, kids must be school-aged and can start attending the club when they begin kindergarten. According to Hot Springs Club Director Mattelyn Montoya, most of the daily attendees are in grades K-6th but there are also a few teenagers who attend regularly as well.
In addition to the Monday – Thursday after-school hours, the club is also open all day Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 pm for an additional $10 per week. The club is also open five days per week in the summertime. Parents can pay just $75 total for their children to have a safe and production place all summer long, which also includes club staff helping to get them toand- from their summer rec activities during the day as well.
Montoya – who started working at the club in February 2024 and was promoted to Director in April 2024 – has three of her own children who attend the club: ages 6, 9 and 13. She said one of the things she enjoys most about being a part of the BGCHS is seeing how their activities help the youth gain confidence and become more social.
Another employee, Miracel Lucero, began in April 2024 and works in Youth Development. She too has a daughter, age 7, who attends the club. Lucero said she enjoys coming to the club every day as a way to hold onto her youthful spirit and interacting with the young members.
A third local employee, Lorelei Ball, serves as the Director of Operations and splits her duties equally between all three of the BGCBH locations in Hot Springs, Hill City and Lead-Deadwood.
In addition to these three adult staff members, there are also about four members of the club’s “Junior Staff,” who are high school-aged students and work with the kids in a variety of capacities. This Junior Staff position oftentimes represents the first job opportunity for a local teenager and has proven to help steer some of these kids towards a career in the youth services field.
Montoya said a typical after-school day for kids sees them get dropped off by the bus and then enter through the front security door and get scanned in. They are then provided a fresh – and sometimes hot – snack, as they wind down from their school day while participating in some physical activity, either indoors or outdoors. At about 4:45, the youth break off into their age-appropriate group sessions where they take part in various 30 to 45-minute activities that focus on education, character and leadership, healthy lifestyles, career development or homework help.
Then, just prior to their parents picking them up at the end of the day, the youth are encouraged to take part in various fun activities that can include board games or other things like “Body Works,” which are exercises designed to help connect the mind with the body, according to Montoya and are one of her favorite things to the do with the kids.
While a youth’s time at the BGCHS is an opportunity for learning, the staff recognizes that they do not want to make it feel like more school. For that reason, a lot of emphasis is put on ensuring that the environment is based on having fun while learning things that they wouldn’t normally get exposed to while at school.
All of staff at the BGCHS saidoneofthemostimpressive things about the club is how involved and supportive the community of Hot Springs has been as a whole. Each of them described countless ways in which organizations or businesses have come to the aid of the club – either when there was a financial need (ex: First Interstate Bank paying for a bill at the lumber yard), or by providing a learning opportunity (Battle Mountain Humane Society teaching a class on pet care) or a fun activity for the kids (Hot Springs Theatre offering a free movie day).
Next weekend’s 15th annual Wine & Wreaths event is another example of the community support given to the club. Individual tickets to the event are $35 each. Sponsorships are also offered, ranging from $250 to $1,200. Wreaths can also be decorated and donated as a way to raise funds during the auction.
In addition to the general funding needed to sustain the club financially, when asked if there were any other needs at the club, Montoya mentioned that the club’s washer and dryer had recently broken down. She said having that equipment on-site and operational allows them to ensure cleanliness, not only with their own towels and other items, but it also comes in very handy should any of the kids have accidents which require their clothing to be laundered. Due to space considerations, Montoya said they would need a stackable set.
Another “fun” need would be a Tetherball game, which many of their youth members have requested. Montoya said they have the space for it on the north side of the building, near the alley.
For more information about the Wine & Wreaths event, or to offer your assistance with any of the club’s other needs, call 605-745-8000 or email bgchs@bgcblackhills.org.