SEQUIM — Nearly 20 years ago, Cinnamon Falley would steal a quarter from her mother’s house in a poor section of Tacoma’s south end and use it to pay for an afternoon of swimming at the nearest Boys & Girls Club.

In a few weeks, Falley will be in charge of her own Boys & Girls Club — the Olympic Peninsula chapter — and its $700,000 annual budget.

Falley, 32, has been hired as the newest executive director of the Sequim-based Boys & Girls Clubs chapter.

She replaces Suzanne Little, who stepped down in September to become King County’s parks and recreation director, and will start work Jan. 3.

She was picked from among four finalists, including interim director Carla Abrams, who will stay on as director of the club’s Mount Angeles Unit in Port Angeles, said Mike Chapman, president of the Olympic Peninsula chapter’s board of directors.

“It’s a good opportunity for professional growth,” Falley said in a Tuesday telephone interview from Burns, Ore., where she currently resides.

“It brings me closer to my family, and I was ready for a change.

“This seems to be a good match.”

Boys & Girls Club founder

Falley comes to Sequim from Burns, a small city in north-central Oregon, where she founded the Boys & Girls Club of Harney County and served as its executive director since October 2001.

Her ability to start up new locations — as well as her skills in grant-writing, fund-raising and administration — were deemed the perfect fit for the Olympic Peninsula organization, which is looking at opening new units in Forks and Port Townsend in the future, Chapman said.

“She’s built a club from the ground up, so she’s familiar with the process it takes — especially the Boys & Girls Clubs’ formal process,” Chapman said Tuesday.

“And you really need a director who can direct the grant-writing and fund-raising processes.

“She’s been running a club for three years, and came with impeccable references from the community and within the organization,” Chapman added.