Kids need a safe place to go where they can stay engaged and participate in fun, meaningful activities.
Patsy Mercer understands the value of giving kids a place like that.
Describing her own family, she said, “We lived very frugally except for one thing, and that was that my parents would spend money on music lessons for us kids. We all ended up being musicians.”
Patsy grew up with a love of music, learning to sing and play the piano, pipe organ, fiddle, and violin throughout her childhood.
“Music was such a pleasure, and it gave us something to do.”
Her children also took music lessons, in addition to growing up on Mercer Ranches with plenty of open spaces and things to do. Patsy worries about youth who don’t have those same opportunities.
“What do kids do if they’re going home from school and mom and dad aren’t there because they’re working?” she wondered.
Patsy has been involved with the Boys & Girls Club in Prosser since the beginning, when Ron McHenry, who was Club Director for the prospective Prosser Clubhouse at the time, gave a presentation during a Rotary Club meeting.
When Ron asked if anyone would be willing to donate to help get the Prosser Clubhouse open, “my husband’s hand flew up,” Patsy recalled. “He was the first one. He was very caring, and he helped people so much.”
When Patsy’s husband, Bud Mercer, passed away in 2010, Patsy continued to donate and carry on the commitment Bud had made.
“I think what the Boys & Girls Club does is absolutely necessary and a wonderful thing for kids,” she said.
She pointed to Zebbie Castilleja, a former member of the Prosser Clubhouse and current Club Board Member and Kennewick Police Officer, as an example of the difference the Club can make in a child’s life.
“I saw this young man who could have been in all kinds of trouble if that’s the path he’d chosen. But he was at the Boys & Girls Club, and I think it was so helpful for him. I’ve been very impressed with that.”
When she was approached about the new Prosser Clubhouse, there was only one thing that made Patsy hesitate to donate.
“I have grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and I just wondered if I need to support them more. That’s all that was on my mind.”
Then she got a call from Rob Mercer, one of her sons.
“He called me and said he was going to do what I had been asked to do,” Patsy said. “I thought, ‘Well, that’s a good thing. We’ll both do it.’ I’ve lived a good life here in Prosser, and I want to give back.”
Donating to the Boys & Girls Club is the best way Patsy knows to give back to her community.
“I just think it’s so important for kids to have a place to go, a wholesome place where there are people who care about them.”