Thomas E. Dierckman, a longtime board member of the Santa Clarita Valley Boys & Girls Club, was honored Thursday evening in a special unveiling of the clubhouse’s new name to honor his legacy with his family and local dignitaries in attendance.
Fresh new plaques that read “Thomas E. Dierckman Clubhouse” were on the main entrance of the Boys & Girls Club Canyon Country location to honor a key leader in the community.
Dierckman, who is a Boys and Girls Club alumni himself, was honored and humbled for the special recognition during the ceremony for his valuable contributions to helping create a safe place for local children.
“To have somebody who got his start in the Boys Club, across the Midwest in another state, move across the country and establish his life and his family and then give back to those local kids and really do some momentous and amazing things for this community,” said Boys & Girls Club CEO Matt Nelson. “It takes a community to create a club and to raise our kids and our families.”
Those in attendance included Mayor Pro Tem Bill Miranda, Linda Storli, president of the William S. Hart Union High School District board, and field representatives from county Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Santa Clarita, and state Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita.
Dierckman serves in the organization’s financing committee and Nelson added that his help in managing funds has been essential to the club’s operations.
Storli thanked Dierckman for helping create a community where children and their safety is a priority and discussed how it’s important to offer such services for their success.
“I can’t imagine anyone that I would rather have [the clubhouse] named after,” she said.
“It was over 20 years ago that we built this, and this was a model for how these kinds of things should be done. This was just not the Boys & Girls Club and fundraising, it was the school district board,” and many others “to having this thing done and sharing the vision for this facility,” said Dierckman after the unveiling. “I’m humbled by it.”
