Page 44 - BusinessWest February 17, 2021

When he started in Westfield, the club provided services for nearly 100 children every day with an annual budget of $600,000. Now the club provides day-care, educational, and meal services for 350 children and teens every day with an annual budget of nearly $3 million.
Parks credits his staff for helping to make the vision a reality. Many staffers have long tenures on the job, and several started there even before he arrived.
“When you can maintain your existing staff, it
“We think about what’s outside the walls of our club and how
to help the overall community because, in the long run, that’s going to help the kids who are members of the club and kids wh”o are members of the community.
allows you to do big things because you are not constantly changing people and roles,” he said, adding that the staff has also grown to 12 full-time and more than 40 part-time workers, making the organization a “decent-size employer in the city.”
A dedicated and consistent staff that gets results, he noted, makes it easier to attract potential donors. One donor told Parks he supports the club because he is confident that the contribution will generate efforts to help young people succeed, adding, “I like what you are
During the pandemic, Bill Parks says, the club became a critical resource for both kids with their remote learning and their parents who had to work.
doing, and I believe it will have an impact on our community.”
The role of Boys & Girls Clubs today has greatly changed from the days when Parks played basketball with his friends in Marlborough. Once he began his career there, he saw education becoming a more vital part of the organization’s mission.
“It was easy to see that, in addition to having a
gym director and game-room director, clubs also needed an education director,” he said, adding that relationships with the School Department and the community at large are essential to his club.
“We are a part of the city of Westfield,” he said. “We think about what’s outside the walls of our club and how to help the overall community because, in the long
run, that’s going to Parks
Continued on page 48
44 FEBRUARY 17, 2021
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