SEQUIM — After nearly six months of a search that considered 45 candidates around the nation, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula board members found the person they needed right at home.

Mary Budke, who has served as interim manager of the club since May — was named Tuesday as the organization’s executive director.

Jerry Sinn, president of the club’s 17-member board, said it was her history with Sequim and Port Angeles organizations and her passion for helping children that tipped the scale in her favor.

“Mary has the capabilities, skills and proven leadership to lead our organization in meeting the challenges and opportunities of continuing growth and difficult economy,” Sinn said.

“Mary’s long-term commitment to the kids and families we serve, coupled with her team approach to managing, is the perfect combination for what we will need to meet the needs of the community we serve.”

Sinn declined to say how much Budke would be paid.

Budke, who oversees both the Port Angeles club at 2620 S. Francis St. and Sequim Carroll C. Kendall club, 400 W. Fir St., was named interim manager after Bob Schilling resigned as executive director after three years at the post.

Fundraiser Saturday

Budke’s hiring for a position that oversees just under a $1 million budget comes as the club’s volunteers are decorating the Sequim branch for the Boys & Girls Club’s 22nd annual auction and $100-a-person dinner at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Sequim club.

The club was closed today to begin decorating for this year’s theme, “Rumble in the Jungle.”

Budke said the club is all about less fortunate children.

“We specifically target the disadvantaged,” she said, adding that although the annual fee is $30, no child is turned away.

Budke joined the club seven years ago, working as a camp counselor and in the club’s kitchen, which today produces some 130,000 snacks and 30,000 meals a year.

She created the club’s kindergarten program before becoming the club’s unit director.

Before that, she had 15 years of experience in the baking industry in Denver and Reno, Nev.

She earned two bachelor’s degrees in history and sociology from Idaho State University and a master’s degree in education from Old Dominion University.

Budke said she will continue the work she has been doing “with a vengeance.”

“You’re going to see me out in the community more,” she said.

Changes in PA?

Sinn said the organization will consider changes for the Port Angeles club, which serves about 60 a day and has demand for more youths.

Expanding on that club’s existing site or relocating are under consideration.

The 11-year-old Sequim 25,000-square-foot club building serves between 250 and 300 youths a day, ages 5 to 18.

It is open from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Programs such as Kinderkids and Sequim’s teen club have both become successful, Sinn said, adding that all of the high school seniors in the club are graduating and eight are going to college.

The Sequim club’s facilities include a gym, game room, computer lab, teen club and art room.

The teen club is the only such club of its kind. Budke calls it a respite for youths who otherwise might be homeless or couch-surfing.

Youths there can find food, clothes and toiletries and a safe environment.

“When we’re closed, you see the impact on the streets,” Budke said.

Budke also serves as a member of Citizens for Sequim Schools and on the Sequim Food Bank board.

The club, which today has 33 on staff, started 24 years ago in a home on North Sequim Avenue, then moved to the church building across the street that today houses Olympic Theater Arts.

The clubs have seen three executive directors depart in about four years.

Schilling succeeded Todd Bale, who resigned after expressing dissatisfaction with the clubs’ benefits package; Bale was hired after Cinnamon Falley left suddenly in January 2006.

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.