CHAMPAIGN – Every day after school, a bus takes Tyanna Jones' two kids to the hub of activity known as the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club.

There they can get help with homework, work with a tutor, make an art project or just unwind from the school day until their mom gets off work at 5 p.m.

The club is a godsend for Jones, a single mom with a full-time job. Membership is $5 a year, which she knows is an "incredible" bargain. She probably couldn't afford that much day care, and the club is so much more.

"They're there to help them out. It's more than just a holding place. It's a positive place for them. They're not getting into trouble.

"You can't find what they offer the kids anywhere else," said Jones, who works in patient accounts at Carle Foundation Hospital.

Jones is worried because the Don Moyer club faces financial challenges. As with other nonprofits, delays in state grant payments have hurt cash flow. Fundraising fell short of the club's goals for the last three years, and without an influx of money it could be in trouble, officials said.

"We need to raise $152,000 to keep us going from January through March 31," said Executive Director Andre Arrington.

The club is launching a new fund drive that asks donors to sponsor a child for about $523 a year. If 101 people sponsor three children each, that would meet the goal, he said. Eventually, he'd like to have 297 such donors annually.

Several individuals and churches already have stepped forward, including the Rev. Lloyd Gwin of the Church of the Living God in Champaign. He and his wife plan to sponsor three children in the next year, and he hopes his congregation will sponsor at least three more.

"The Boys and Girls Club is a vital part of the community. It's a place of learning and growth for the children after school, when school is not in session and just a safe haven and a very positive place for them to go," Gwin said. "We're just trying to bind together as a community to raise the necessary funds to keep them going."

Arrington said the club has relied so heavily on state grant funding that it's never secured an ongoing source of money for basic operations. If the grants ceased, it would have trouble staying afloat, he said.

At the same time, grants have become more restrictive and are targeted at new programs, not ongoing operations, he said. If the club had sustained investors, "we'd be able to operate regardless of whether we had grants or not."

The club also targeted most of its fundraising efforts on special events, such as the duck race at Crystal Lake Park, an annual golf outing and steak-and-burger din- ner.

But those endeavors are labor-intensive, requiring staff time or lots of volunteers, and aren't as efficient as finding a long-term, stable donor base, he said.

"Special events are good for public relations. You make money, but you do not make enough money to keep your operations" on solid footing, he said.

Lyn Jones, president and CEO of the Champaign County United Way, thinks the club is on the right path.

"I think there will be a lot of people interested in sponsoring a child to be at the Boys and Girls Club," she said.

The United Way gives about $120,000 annually to the Don Moyer club, which makes up about 19 percent of the club's $900,000 budget. Arrington said the budget needs to be $1 million or more to meet rising demand.

To cut costs, he has frozen some spending, postponed staff training and limited program hours. Some staff have volunteered their time for field trips and other activities.

The club takes in children from 5 through 17, offering academic, cultural, recreational and social support. One of its biggest grants, Teen Reach, covers eight programs for kids ages 11 to 17 to help them make good decisions, stay in school and graduate, including homework assistance, recreation and cultural arts.

"It's much more than a baby-sitting service," said former board member Steve Hamburg.

Many of the children are from single-parent homes or are being raised by an aunt or grandmother, he said.

The Urban League came up more than once at a meeting of club officials and community leaders Monday night. The league had made appeals to black churches for support, to little avail.

"We sort of missed that. Before we knew it, the doors were closing," Gwin said. "What we're trying to do is not let that happen with the Boys and Girls Club."

Lyn Jones doesn't think the club will close its doors.

"I think there are a lot of people in town who are very dedicated to making sure that does not happen," she said.

Erick Hayes, a former Illini football player who worked part-time at the club in college, recently donated $100,000 for an endowment.

"He said he'd like to help the club develop some long-term stability," said Arrington, who hopes to leverage that money to raise $300,000 in all.

The club has another endowment, established by the Don Moyer family, through the Community Foundation. It's worth about $150,000, Arrington said.

Tyanna Jones and several other moms attended Monday's meeting to demonstrate how important the club is to their families.

"It's more than just a place for the kids. It's a saving grace for the parents," she said.

Her daughter Tiara, 11, got involved in a math and science club there that works with UI engineering students. Tyanna Jones went with her as a chaperone on a field trip to Detroit.

"It just opened their eyes to so many other possibilities," she said. "You see what you can be."