The Boys & Girls Club of Lauderdale County, located in the city of Meridian, Mississippi, was established and incorporated in 1988 as a non-profit organization. It was established to provide a safe place for at-risk youth and to alleviate the effects of gang-related activities, drugs, teenage pregnancy, and a sharp increase of school drop-out rates. Since its inception, it has served over 27,000 youth with a current active membership of 2000 and 10,386 members served to date.
The Boys & Girls Club of Lauderdale County presently operates out of a facility with approximately 24,000 square feet of space. The facility has eleven classrooms, a game room, a teen room, gymnasium, library, computer lab equipped with twenty on-line computers, a kitchen, administrative office, two other small rooms, and a storage area.
It has provided local youth with the following services:
Club members have participated in community service projects for the elderly (yard cleanup and painting), citywide litter collection, collecting food for disaster victims, and assisting in community activities of other non-profit organizations such as Girl Scouts, 4-H Clubs, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, the Arts Council, and local schools. Club members have also learned job skills through the Club's job placement program, which has included the lumber industry, manufacturing, engineering, and retail companies.