Boys & Girls Clubs gets $110,000

Charlotte's charitable heart shined brightly this week.

On Tuesday, I ran a story wrote about H. Keith Brunnemer Jr., who donated $75,000 to the Mental Health Association.

And I wrote about the anonymous donor who left $650 in the book drop at South County Regional library to buy children's books.

Well, the Salvation Army Boys & Girls Clubs has big news as well. An anonymous donor quietly turned a matching $100,000 grant into a full-fledged gift this week.

Reporter Mark Price wrote about the $100,000 challenge grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs in his Saturday story about the organization's shortfall. The Boys & Girls Club lost $310,000 in United Way money. A donor gave the organization a challenge grant to encourage the community to chip in the remaining $210,000.

After reading Price's story, the donor decided to give the Boys & Girl's Clubs the money outright.

It was an incredible gift, but the organization still needs $210,000 to prevent closing two clubs and displacing hundreds of school-age kids. This week, the Boys & Girls Clubs started its official campaign to raise the remainder of the money by Sept. 10. Today, they received a $10,000 donation.

Marty Clary, executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs, has reason to feel hopeful. In three days the organization received a third of the money it needs.

"We’re going to make it," he said. "We’ve got to. We’ve got over 400 kids. They’re counting on us."

The week's examples of giving offers hope to the organizations that received the money as well as those who are still hoping someone with a fat wallet and big heart will help them.

"The real value was not the amount, but the example that you don't have to solve the whole problem," said Beverly Howard, executive director of Loaves and Fishes. "You can have many pieces to solve the problem."