Boys and Girls Clubs Kevie Dixon shows the new floors, televisions and other items that were donated and installed free of charge.
Amtico International, a Georgia-based flooring company, donated about 5,000 square feet of new wood flooring, said Kevie Dixon, executive director of the club. The flooring retails for about $20,000, and was placed throughout the main building of the club and in its dance studio on Academy Drive in Dallas.
About two years ago Amtico provided funding to sponsor some children for the club’s summer activities, and the following year offered to supply the flooring, Dixon said.
The Paulding County School District Maintenance Department stored the flooring until Dallas-based Floor-It was able to install it, he said.
Shaqwanna Venable, 17, of Dallas, has been volunteering and teaching dance at the club for five years. She said the club looks brighter than it did previously when it had carpet.
“I love it. It is more spacious and open [looking],” Venable said.
Home Depot donated chair rail molding, while Pamela’s Painting of Atlanta donated its services and painted the walls, Dixon said.
“We are not done with it yet,” he said.
Dixon said his next goal is to get a new floor donated for the basketball gym. Currently the floor is made of old ceramic tile.
If he can get a new floor, Dixon plans to start a fifth- and sixth-grade basketball program, he said. There is not a program for this age group in Paulding, and it could help bring in revenue for the club, Dixon said.
The club has come a long way since it started in 1996 in Dallas Elementary School.
It currently has two full-time staff members, and around 20 volunteers, Dixon said.
The club offers a variety of activities including art, sports and tutoring. The club has pool tables, air hockey tables and foosball tables.
Dixon said he is also working to get the children into the mindset of preparing to go to college.
One of his ideas is to rename all of the rooms and activity areas in the club after a college, so when a child is asked “where they are going,” the answer is to a college, he said.
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