In 1990, a small group of community leaders realized the need for a safe place for children to go before and after school. The first Boys & Girls Club of Southwest County was started at Margarita Middle School in Temecula, California, offering after-school programs to middle school children. The Club expanded to a facility in Old Town Temecula in 1994. Three years later, the Club expanded to Murrieta on the campus of Shivela Middle School, offering sports clinics after school, and later in 1998, to a permanent double-wide modular site at the California Oaks Sports Park. Some years later, the Club expanded to the City of Lake Elsinore, currently located at the Lakeland Village Community Center. In June of 2006, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians built the 5,500 square foot flagship Pechanga Great Oak Clubhouse at Kent Hintergardt Park in Temecula’s beautiful Redhawk community.

Every day, there are thousands of kids and teens across the cities of Temecula, Murrieta, Lake Elsinore, and the neighboring communities, with nowhere to go before or after school. This is where Boys & Girls Club of Southwest County comes in. At Boys & Girls Club of Southwest County, local youth across Southwest Riverside County not only have a safe, positive place to go, but a place where they will receive mentorship from a caring, professional adult, and opportunities they may not receive at home or school. Serving as the critical puzzle piece, between home and school, Boys & Girls Club of Southwest County offers Club members life-changing programs and services, including exposure to once in a lifetime opportunities such as Lakers Sports Camps, or performing onstage to a crowd of hundreds, participating at a premiere vocal talent search event held at Pechanga Resort Casino, Boys & Girls Club Idol.