On any given weekday, you can hear laughter and see smiles through the heavily decorated front windows of the Boys and Girls Club at 75 Merchants Row in Rutland.

And when you step into the building you will be greeted by a friendly and safe environment. You’ll see around 30 kids who are learning and developing life skills with smiles on their faces.

And alongside the youth in the club you’ll see the committed staff who are devoting their time and energy back into their community.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America offers its services at 5,400 sites across the United States, 13 of which are housed in Rutland County.

“We offer after school care to somewhere around 275 kids daily,” said Malik Hines, director of Operations for the Boys & Girls Club of Rutland County and Castleton graduate. “We’re serving around 250 kids snack and 150 to 160 kids dinner every day.”

Nicole Rice, executive director and another Castleton graduate, has been working with the organization for three years.

“We employ somewhere between 15-20 Castleton students each year,” Rice said.

The Boys and Girls Club (BGCA) of Rutland County employs many individuals who are committed to serving the youth of the area, and many of these employees are former or current students at Castleton.

“Our growth over the course of the last year and a half would absolutely not have been possible without Castleton students,” Rice said.

The BGCA’s mission statement is to enable all young people, especially those who need them most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens.

“The idea that parents can work and know that their kids are in a safe space, where they are gaining new skills and having social and emotional opportunities to develop outside of the school day is incredibly important,” Rice said.

Iris Hudson, who serves as the director of Finance, has been working with the club for five years and started when she was a student at Castleton.

“It’s very easy to build a community within the Boys and Girls Club because a lot of our staff have a connection through Castleton,” Hudson said.

Hines also spoke about the connection to Castleton.

“It’s all about the people you meet and the relationships you build that allow you to get to the places you want to be,” Hines said. “And Castleton has allowed me to meet a bunch of people within the community who I still work with to this day.”

Both Hudson and Hines regularly connect with former professors from Castleton to further the reach of the organization and ensure it’s meeting the youths’ needs.

“We’re even more of a family than what people might think because we have these ties to Castleton,” Hines said.

When asked the question what makes club fun, Araya Allen, 8, offered a quick response.

“The staff,” she said.

This is a common feeling among many club members, says Hines.

“Some of the members are not only coming back because of their friends and the programming, but because of the connections they’ve made with the staff,” Hines said.

Wyatt Jackson Jr, a current member of the VTSU Castleton master’s program, has been working at the BGCA for over a year.

Not only have these Castleton students and graduates contributed greatly to the community of the greater Rutland area, they say they have been positively impacted by the connections they’ve made.

“What the kids have done for me, and also what the entire program has done for myself, has given me not only a sense of community but a sense of belonging,” Jackson said.