Knepper Resigns From Boys & Girls Club; Club Temporarily Closed
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Boys & Girls Club of Kosciusko County unit manager Cindy Knepper resigned this week.
The club is temporarily closed while it is reorganized, with plans to reopen in May.
Knepper, who has served as the organization's unit manager for the past 29 years, submitted her letter of resignation to the Boys & Girls Club board of directors Wednesday, according to Letrecia Harrell, board president.
Knepper's duties as unit manager were to manage the club, supervise staff and operations and recruit volunteers.
Harrell said it was hard to see Knepper go.
"She was compassionate about what she did and touched a lot of lives and has been a strong advocate for children within the community," Harrell said. "She was a trail blazer for the community as far as getting the youth organization up and running."
The resignation letter Knepper submitted to the board of directors Wednesday stated: "Dear Board Members, with many tears I say at this time I need to hand in my keys."
Knepper began her career as the first director of the Girls Club. Recognizing a need to provide an environment where both girls and boys would be welcomed, she oversaw the transition to the Boys & Girls Club of America.
Harrell said the board of directors made the decision to temporarily close the club's facility at 800 N. Park Ave., Warsaw, at the end of business hours Wednesday.
She said the board decided to temporarily close the club because it felt it did not have adequate staffing to care for the children who visit the club.
Harrell said a letter will be sent to club members at least two weeks prior to reopening.
She said the organization hopes to fill Knepper's vacancy in April, and plans to reopen the club by May.
Harrell said this is the second time this year a top leader has resigned.
The club's program director, Bobbi Burkhart, resigned in February to accept another job. The board hopes to have the program director seat filled by April as well.
The club serves an average of 80 children a day, and was open Mondays through Thursdays and had sports activities on Saturdays and a summer program, Harrell said.
She said before reopening the club needs to do an inventory, and clean and purchase new equipment.
"We want to make sure the kids have a good place to come back to and give the club an updated feel," Harrell said.
In 2010, the club did an organizational assessment with the community and conducted interviews on what users wanted from the club.It was expressed during the interviews that they wanted to see increased programming opportunities and a degree of professionalism with the agency, Harrell said.
"In order to deliver quality programs to the community, we have identified an avenue to get the club re-opened and are working to get an agreement in place," she said.
