Ex-police officer leads drive for youth facility

Ahwatukee resident and former Phoenix police Officer Christopher Gentis knows from experience that kids and teens need a place to hang out.

To that end, Gentis is working to interest the community in establishing an Ahwatukee Boys and Girls Clubs of the East Valley branch.

"I don't mean to use 'I' when I speak of this but right now the 'we' part isn't quite formalized yet," said Gentis, a 31-year Ahwatukee resident, member of the Village Planning Advisory Committee and president of the Ahwatukee Homeowners Association board.

The vision for a local Boys and Girls Club germinated shortly after Gentis retired from the Phoenix Police Department in 2003. The former police lieutenant's background included overseeing community programs and the Neighborhood Block Watch Grant.

"Through my years with the Police Department, I learned the more active kids are, the less likely they are to become involved in crime," he said. "It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that with a ton of single parents and dual-working couples, after-school and summer activities are needed."

Gentis' quest for a Boys and Girls Club Ahwatukee branch was sidelined when his wife of 32 years, Debbie, contracted cancer and died last year. She was a long-time Kyrene School District elementary teacher, serving 14 years at Kyrene de la Sierra and later at Kyrene de las Manitas.

Recently, Gentis renewed his work to help make his dream come to fruition. Fundraising is a major component.

"I think we can easily have $15,000 in our hands by the end of January," Gentis said. "Funds go to the East Valley Boys and Girls Club specifically for the Ahwatukee branch."

Though Gentis has located his "dream piece of dirt" in Ahwatukee that is within a quarter mile of 800 apartment units and a mile from three elementary schools, he admits the actual building could be a ways off.

In the interim, he said he would like to help organize safe transportation for Ahwatukee to the Guadalupe Thunderbirds Branch.

Gentis has met with Boys and Girls Clubs of the East Valley executives, city officials, city transit representatives and Phoenix Councilman Greg Stanton in an attempt to get the free neighborhood circulator bus service (formerly ALEX) to extend its route across Interstate 10 to the 24,000-square-foot club in Guadalupe.

"I was at a meeting there this summer and there were 17 kids who lived in the two Ahwatukee ZIP codes," he said. "I thought why not make Guadalupe a temporary home?"

Next on Gentis' planner is a campaign to attract steering-committee members to help move forward on the proposed Ahwatukee branch.

"Not all kids play Little League or tennis or go swimming, but they do need direction and guidance," he said. "Caring for them, to me, is part of the village concept."

Gentis said he doesn't consider his efforts for an Ahwatukee Boys and Girls Club branch to be in competition with the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA, which recently announced an expansion program that will include an onsite kids program and a new youth/teen center.

For more information on the proposed Ahwatukee Boys and Girls Club, contact Gentis at gentis@cox.net or 480-893-9121.