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Board members, fund-raisers, architects, and building-builders turned over ceremonial shovels of dirt Wednesday afternoon as the Bartlesville Boys and Girls Club broke ground for the new C. J. "Pete" Silas Boys and Girls Club.  Capital Committee Co-chairs Mike May and and Glenn Cox told those assembled for the event that the fund-raising effort has been met with an overwhelmingly positive response.

Kelly Barham says the boys and girls club has raised 90 percent of its seven million dollar goal.  Cox says the club received a one-million dollar challenge grant from the Mabee Foundation. 

The State-of-the-art facility will include a dedicated teen center, learning centers, gymnasium, technology and STEM lab, arts and music program spaces, and an expanded kitchen to accommodate the nutritional program's needs.

Marketing Director Annah Fischer says work in the new Boys and Girls club should start soon.

Fischer expects the project to take about 15 months and to open in the 2018 school year.