A recent Friday morning at the Boys and Girls Club in Bethlehem sees 10 or so kids learning online. Everyone is masked, and temperatures are taken for everyone coming into the building in Bethlehem’s Pembroke Village community.

The kids are absorbed in their work at tables in different rooms, with signs on the seats that tell them how far they should spread for social distancing. Board games, books, and tapes on shelves line the walls along with a number of computers. Lunch is served six days a week, and kids come in after school for recreational and physical education activities.

New guidelines due to the COVID crisis have cut down the numbers.

“We have had a limited amount of kids we are seeing this year, about 45 a day,” says Winston Alozie, CEO of the club. “The building capacity is about 150. We were used to seeing around a hundred.”

Alozie took over as CEO last year, after serving as a youth director.

The club, which serves kids from ages 5 to 18, was closed from March 13 to June 19, but there was a summer camp and a drop-in program from June to August.

Things have picked up since the school year began, and the hours have been expanded for online learning. It is now open Mondays.

Program Director Scott Perry said Project Learn is taking place during mornings.

“Tutors come in from Moravian College and Lehigh University,” Perry said. “We are working with the schools so they can get their teaching certification.”

The club offers free wi-fi, so many kids do all their online learning there.

More help is needed.

“We are looking for volunteers to come in and tutor, retired teachers and professionals willing to help kids,” Alozie said.

“We have to be creative now,” Perry added. “In the heat last summer we used a garden hose and had wet balloon fights.”

Alozie said basketball has resumed, but games are restricted to a maximum of three on three for non-relatives, and kids have to play with their masks on.

Among the club’s many programs is Triple Play, which works towards physical, mental, and emotional health. Alozie said, “We will talk about muscle groups when playing volleyball and teamwork in sports, things that are not just a classroom study.”

On Halloween, families from the area took part in the club’s first Trick or Treat Community Resource Fair, a partnership with the community school network of North Bethlehem. It featured information tables from organizations including the Bethlehem Public Library, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Early Resource Learning Center and Northampton County Community College, along with policemen from the local substation. Burgers were cooked on site, and families met Darth Vader and took home loads of candy.

Despite the pandemic, last fall featured other events with community partners. There was a Community Bike Day and a Drive Thru Baby Shower, where moms could get gift bags with information and lunches. The final segment of Bethlehem’s online IceHouse Tonight Series featured a conversation with Alozie and poet Matt Wolf.

The 41st annual Scramble for Kids Golf Tournament in August which benefits the club was a success.

“It was an amazing event,” Alozie said. “We expected 40 participants and got over 70, with over 10 sponsors. It was very pleasing.”

In addition to its programs, the club serves as a bridge to local police.

“We serve high percentages of people of color,” Alozie said. “So many police officers come out of the Boys and Girls Club. A lot grow up to be policemen, but some have had negative experiences. We want to change the narrative of how police are viewed, and facilitate positive, meaningful interactions with them.”

The Boys and Girls club offers hope and opportunity, according to Alozie.

“We want to give kids career development, and give them spirit and a chance to prove themselves,” he said. “We want them to know that there is good in the world. There are dark things around now, but there is a silver lining.”

The Bethlehem Boys and Girls Club is at 1430 Fritz Drive in Bethlehem. The hours are Monday 9-5, Tuesday through Friday 9-6, and Saturday 10-4. Donations can be made at their website at https://bgcob.org.