CONWAY, AR – In a 6-2 vote, the Conway City Council approved a contract to give the Boys and Girls Club of Faulkner County $10,000 to help the group cover the rising costs of transportation.
The Boys and Girls Club picks up hundreds of children from 15 Conway schools during the school year, and takes them on field trips over the summer. The problem is the cost to do that is going up, everything from drivers to bus and van insurance to gas. On Tuesday, program director Robert Wright asked the city council for help.
“Insurance has gone up. We bought a new bus. The insurance doubled,” says Wright.
In the two years since taking over as the club's leader, Wright says the number of kids coming daily has doubled from 150 to 300. Parents rely on the club because it's budget friendly.
"It's nice to able to bring your kids here. You're not paying quite as much as daycare has to charge, and it's good for the school kids because they get to stay with their own age group and do their age group activities,” says parent Holli Ireland.
“Without the Boys and Girls Club, a lot of parents would be struggling every day just to find someone to keep their kids,” says Wright.
The council voted to move the money is out of the budget of the street department, which has $1 million budgeted for the rest of the year.
"I think that a couple thousand or a few thousand dollars for transportation is an investment, it's not a gift,” said Wright.
