In the days following the Oct. 15 shooting tragedy at Silver Rail Elementary, Michael Baker got a call from Bend-La Pine Schools.
The district needed help from the Boys and Girls Club of Central Oregon, for which Baker is the CEO. The schools were preparing hundreds of teaching staff to welcome students back. But with school still out of session, those teachers’ kids needed a place to go.
Though that would mean a quick pivot from normal operations, the response wasn’t a question for the Boys and Girls Club and its board, Baker said.
Since then, the youth programs nonprofit has been working overtime to support Bend families with childcare, particularly Silver Rail families, whose children still haven’t returned to school. That’s meant opening its doors for free childcare from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm.
The weeks after the tragedy were some of the most difficult the schools and the community has even seen, and for Baker, stepping up has been one of the most powerful experiences in his 38 years with Boys and Girls Club.
Baker stressed how much the Boys and Girls Club values that the school district and parents have put their trust in the organization during a time of tragedy.
“We wish this didn’t happen, obviously,” Baker told the Source. “But we’re going to do what we need to in order to help. It’s what we do as a Boys and Girls Club.”
The local chapter of the nonprofit started in Bend in 1994 and has been operating out of a historic gym building downtown for nearly 30 years. The club also has a location in east Bend, and in September opened a location in La Pine, Baker said.
The club’s regular programming includes day camps during the summer, where kids participate in a mix of indoor and outdoor games, educational activities like science experiments, art projects and field trips like nature walks, museum visits and baseball camps. Similar programs operate on non-school days, such as Thanksgiving break, spring break and parent-teacher conferences. After-school programs also provide art, physical activities and education.
Opening up emergency childcare in the wake of the tragedy meant going straight back into a busy schedule similar to the summer season, which wrapped up not too long ago.
“It’s 7:30 in the morning to 5:30 in the afternoon for 12 straight weeks,” Baker said. “Coming off that, it’s like, we’re going to go right back into that, basically, because it’s needed. And there wasn’t even a question.”
The emergency childcare opened up 150 slots for day programs and 40 slots for afternoon programs. Baker said Oct. 29 he expected the service to reach maximum capacity. The club planned to continue the service through Nov. 6, as the school district has indicated it intends to reopen Silver Rail as soon as possible.
“As long as school is out, we need to be open for the families,” Baker said. “The vast majority of families, they need a place for their kids to go.”
The club had already planned to run day programs in the latter half of the first week of November during parent-teacher conferences. But in the meantime, staff have stepped up to take on extra hours to make the emergency programs happen, Baker said.
And the club has had some help from outside groups. Volunteers from schools across the state trained in crisis management came to support staff and members at the Boys and Girls Club in processing the trauma, Baker said.
“It’s open to everybody, but it’s also been helpful for our staff that may need to sit down and talk to somebody,” Baker said. “It’s affected the entire community.”
A national group called Project Camp also sent staff to Bend to support the Boys and Girls Club.
About 70% of the Bend Boys and Girls Club funding is raised locally, Baker said. The national Boys and Girls Club chapter also kicked in $15,000 to assist with the response to the tragedy, Baker said.
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