VENTURA : Club’s Fund-Raising for Gym Still Short

A fund-raising campaign to renovate the aging gymnasium at the Ventura Boys & Girls Club on North Olive Street is still $26,000 short of its goal, a club spokesman said.

“The facility opened 25 years ago, and it’s in need of repair,” said Jeff Bowling, a fund-raiser with the Boys & Girls Club.

The club hopes to raise $98,000 by the end of the year to pay for a new wooden floor, bleachers and new basketball backboards for the gym, Bowling said.

In the past month, the club has received a $30,000 grant from the Weingart Foundation of Los Angeles and $10,000 from the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation of Santa Barbara, Bowling said. An additional $31,000 was raised from private donors.