By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

Kevin Deary

ELKHART COUNTY — As the new year rolls in, Kevin Deary, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County, will officially retire after serving kids for 39 years. Tami Hicks has been tapped to take the helm of the organization.

“I’m excited about our new leader. Tami Hicks is respected in the education world and she’s really excited. She’ll take the organization to a new level,” Deary said, noting she is the first female CEO Boys & Girls Clubs of Elkhart County has had in 65 years.

When Deary arrived in Goshen, there was only one Boys & Girls Club with one board of directors. During his tenure, the Goshen club building has been expanded twice, while new clubs have been established in Nappanee, Middlebury and Elkhart. Those clubs have also expanded in size and membership and he ends his tenure overseeing six boards.

“I just wanted to add value (to the community) and love kids, ” Deary said. “All these opportunities started organically.”

It was in 1997 when conversations began about a possible club being established in Nappanee. At the time, Deary had just started a capital campaign to expand the Goshen Club. He also went back to college. John Leavitt, then owner of Epic Insurance, and then Mayor Larry Thompson approached Deary about opening a club in Nappanee.

In 1998 the Nappanee Boys & Girls Club opened in the old Central School building, which was also home to Elder Haus and offered senior housing.

In 2018-2019 the Boys & Girls Club of Elkhart County launched a massive capital campaign for a freestanding Nappanee Club. To make that happen, the club needed the soccer fields located near Nappanee Elementary School, so new fields had to be created.

“It was just perfect,” Deary said of the project that saw a change in school superintendents and mayors while it was underway.

“We had a lot of significant donors (for the new Nappanee club) for sure,” Deary said. “I had one little girl who had been saving for a bike. She gave it to the club. It was $60. Her name is on the donor board.” That little girl was one of several who broke into their piggy banks to donate funds to the club.

Shortly thereafter, John Sherk, pastor of Crystal Valley Church in Middlebury, approached Deary about a club in Middlebury. The club started out as a satellite with kids meeting at the church. Meanwhile members of the Middlebury community began raising money in earnest for a freestanding club.

Deary credited Jane Allen, former superintendent of Middlebury Community Schools; Ned Myer; John Shoup; Darrell Bontrager; the Mikel Family; and Pete and Jeannie Fore for being instrumental in getting the club its own home. A new clubhouse for Middlebury kids opened in 2002.

In 2006 the Boys & Girls Club of Elkhart County acquired the former Camp Fire property, located on the east edge of Goshen, when it took over the “Kids Care” program. In addition to the camp property, the program inherited 12 school sites.

In 2009 another satellite club opened, this time in Elkhart. Deary credits Mark Mow, superintendent of Elkhart Community Schools, and Curtis Hill, former Elkhart County prosecutor, for pushing the project. “Curtis and Mark were a great team … they were the visionaries of that,” Deary said.

“We were slammed with kids from day one (at the Elkhart Club), so clearly there was a need.” The Elkhart Club was built onto Beardsley Elementary School.

“This is such a generous county and that’s why I want to stay,” he said. Deary’s plans in the new year include taking some time off and then going to go to work for the Community Foundation of Elkhart County as the director of professional and organizational development.

Deary explained in his new position at the community foundation: He will oversee training of CEOs and assisting nonprofits with strategic planning and board development.