60 Years of Great Futures: The History of Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley

It Started With a Promise

Every child deserves somewhere to go when the school bell rings. Somewhere safe. Somewhere they are known by name, where an adult is glad to see them walk through the door.

In December 1966, a small group of community and business leaders in the Northeast San Fernando Valley decided the kids of Pacoima deserved exactly that. They built it together, and it went on to become the Boys & Girls Club of San Fernando Valley.

Sixty years later, that promise still holds. Kids from Pacoima, San Fernando, Arleta, Sylmar, Sunland-Tujunga, Sun Valley, Panorama City, Van Nuys, Lake View Terrace, North Hills, Mission Hills and beyond still come through our doors every afternoon. Since 1986, those doors have been at 11251 Glenoaks Blvd., and they have never stopped opening.

LeRoy Chase

In 1968, LeRoy Chase joined the Club in Pacoima as its leader, and stayed for fifty years. He stayed for half a century of afternoons, guiding generations of kids who grew up and had children of their own. Many have gone on to send their own children to the same Club they grew up in.

Along the way, there were challenges. Every Boys & Girls Club raises its own money, and there were years when the budget did not add up and the future of the Club was uncertain. But under LeRoy's leadership, the doors stayed open and the programs kept growing.

People who knew him called him a "gentle giant with a big smile." He was always on time. He did things the right way, every time. He never chased the spotlight, and he never needed to. His legacy lives in the faces of the young people he believed in, one child at a time, for fifty years. And it lives on in his daughter Nicole, who now leads the Club as its president and CEO.

When LeRoy wasn't at the Club, he was still working for the Valley's kids and families. He served as vice president and interim president of the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Commission. He sat on the President's Advisory Board at Cal State Northridge, served as a state commissioner on the Status of African American Males, and served on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission. He led the LAPD Foothill Advisory Booster Association, served on the Valley Economic Development Center board, and helped start the African American Leadership Association alongside community advocate Bob Winn.

He also bought Monteverde Ranch, a boarding and trail facility for 120 horses, which became part of his family's legacy for several years. Children and teens from the Club enjoyed trail rides and time with horses as part of their summer programs, a tradition that continues today.

In November 2018, after a long illness, LeRoy passed away. Pacoima lost one of its great champions. But the work he gave his life to did not stop for a single day.

A Corner With His Name on It

On May 14, 2022, the day LeRoy would have turned 77, his family, friends, grandchildren, and neighbors gathered at the corner of Glenoaks Boulevard and Pierce Street. That day, the City of Los Angeles named it LeRoy Chase Square.

It sits just steps from the Club. Every day, kids walk past his name on their way through the same doors he kept open for them.

A Family Legacy

LeRoy's daughters grew up at the Club, and in 2008, LeRoy asked his daughter Nicole to change her career and join him. It was less a request than a calling, and she answered it. For ten years she worked at his side. Nicole has said he was the toughest boss she ever had, and that she learned more from him than from anyone. She also said she never understood how much he was carrying until she stepped into his shoes.

Today, Nicole leads the Club, one of several of the second generation of Chases who have poured their hearts into it (her cousin, Ian Chase, runs the Athletics Department).

Sixty Years, by the Numbers

• 1966: A group of community leaders makes a promise to Pacoima's kids

• 1968–2018: LeRoy Chase keeps that promise for five decades

• 80,000+: Young people who have found a home here

• 2,000+: Kids and families served every year

• 2026: Sixty years, and still going

  
  

Invest in Kids. Ignite the Future.

Somewhere in the Valley right now, there is a child who needs a safe place to land after school. A place with a hot meal, a homework helper, a basketball court, and an adult who believes in them.

For sixty years, that place has been here. LeRoy Chase spent his life making sure of it. Now, we need your help.

The Club needs your support today. Cuts to afterschool program financing have left us with a budget deficit, and an immediate need for financial assistance.

Like every Boys & Girls Club, we raise our own operating funds each year to keep our doors open for the kids who count on us. That support pays for the caring staff who greet every child by name, the meals, the homework help, the STEAM projects, and the summer field trips that make this place feel like home. A gift today means a child has somewhere safe to go tomorrow afternoon, and every afternoon after that.

In sixty years, we have never turned a child away. With your help, we never will.

Join us in honoring his legacy by investing in the next generation. Visit bgcsfv.org to donate or go to https://kindest.com/492504-60years.