TIJUANA – Ten-year-old Osiris Núñez Gómez played basketball on a recent sunny day at the Boys and Girls Club located in the city's east side.

He's been going regularly to the club for two years where he also gets help with homework, learns how to use a computer and play sports, the latter activity, he says, what he likes the most.

His parents – his father works at a taco shop and his mother at an assembly plant – could not take care of him and he spent every morning alone at home, watching television. At noon, he left for school and did not return until 6 p.m., when his parents, tired from work, were barely able to help him with school work or any other activity. That's in the past, though.

Every day, Osiris and another 450 children, ages six to sixteen, visit the club, which offers free of charge comprehensive services to help them develop into healthy individuals and away from drug addiction and crime, said Yudelka Félix, the center's director of programs.

Those efforts got a big shot in the arm Monday, when the firm Tupperware Brands of Mexico donated $111,000 to the club. The check will go a long way to support the club's sports programs.

"Most of our children are from homes with only a single parent or are being cared for by their grandparents," said Félix. "They all are low-income and most have parents that work in the maquiladora sector."

The club's operations are modeled after the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and its executives are in regular contact with the Tijuana club, supporting its efforts and growth.

In fact, the Tijuana club was the first in Latin America, and it has spawned a fledgling national organization in Mexico. Taking a page from the Tijuana organizers, a group in Rosarito Beach has opened a club in their city. Another one has opened in the state of Hidalgo, in central Mexico, and one is planned for Nogales, on the border with Arizona.

The Tijuana club opened three years ago in the city's east side, in the Loma Dorada neighborhood. A group of 28 business owners had joined forces to be able to offer healthy after-school activities to dozens of children. That's the period when youngsters are at greatest risk of getting into trouble, said Olimpya López, the club's director.

The east side is the city's most troubled area. It's home to industrial zones but it's mostly made up of poor, isolated neighborhoods that lack some basic public services. It's there that the majority of the city's crime occurs.

The property for the club was donated. The facility has basketball and volleyball courts, soccer fields and a gym. It has a room with 20 computers, a library and classroom with computers where the children can do their homework. There's also a big arts and crafts space, a room to practice ballet and one to hold meetings.

The club's staff offers guidance in nutrition and health, and provides mental health support for children needing it.

The club has a total enrollment of 700 children, but only about half regularly attend activities there because of their families' social and economic situation. Some don't have a way to get the children to the club while others have moved to areas far from it, the director said.

The club, a registered non-profit organization, is subsidized by local and international companies and by business owners in the region.

All that is lost on 9-year-old Alelí Victoria González. She's been going to the club for two years. There, she plays soccer, reads, does her homework, and attends the arts and crafts class, which is her favorite club activity, she said, smiling.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com