DATE: Friday, May 16, 1997                  TAG: 9705160673

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LORRAINE EATON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   50 lines

SOUTHSIDE CLUB BEATING FINANCIAL WOES THE BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB HAS RECEIVED DONATIONS OF ABOUT $60,000 SO FAR.

The Southside Boys and Girls Club in Berkley is just about solvent, thanks to just about everyone.

The nonprofit club, which serves as many as 125 children each weekday, faced an $80,000 budget shortfall in March - and the possibility of turning children away and canceling summer programs that attract up to 500 children a day.

The deficit resulted from a downturn in the local shipbuilding industry, a longtime source of major contributions.

Members' parents; groups from churches, businesses, the local media, the shipbuilding industry, the United Way and other charitable organizations; and anonymous donors helped raise about $60,000, club director Elwood L. ``Coach'' Williams said.

Donations are still coming in, and Williams is waiting to hear about two grants. He feels confident about raising the remaining $20,000. ``We've pulled the respirator and we're operating on our own,'' Williams said. ``I feel much better than I did a few weeks ago.''

The contributions let the club operate without interruption, and the summer programs will go on, Williams said.

The club has faced a shortfall before. In 1995, a $50,000 deficit was overcome through T-shirt and other sales, private donations and a $30,000 United Way grant.

Williams said the latest financial crisis taught him a valuable lesson about diversification. Traditionally, the club has relied on the shipyards in the Berkley neighborhood for a good portion of its support. But when Metro Machine Corp. announced in February that it would lay off most of its work force, it also reduced contributions. The news came as a shock to Williams.

The club's board of directors will add representatives from several segments of the community, he said. ``We learned not to put the chicken and the egg in the same basket,'' Williams said. ``We won't be in this predicament again. We know we have to diversify.''

The Campostella Boys and Girls Club has also closed the budget deficit that threatened to shut the facility this fall. More than $105,000 was raised, according to Web Gould, executive director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of South Hampton Roads. Funds came from the city, private foundations, individuals, businesses and other Campostella community organizations. The club, which serves about 70 children each day during the school year, has enough money to operate through June 1998, Gould said.

The Citizen's Boys and Girls Club in Hampton closed in March. The building needs extensive repairs. Programs have moved to the Sixth Mount Zion Church while the club raises funds to rebuild or repair the building.

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