What's ahead?

Local standout athlete and current NFL player Roy Williams spent his childhood playing at the Woodson Unit of the Boys and Girls Club of Odessa. Now he’s giving back.

Williams has already donated two electronic scoreboards to the club, one for the Woodson Unit and one to the Wilkerson Unit. Butch Foreman of Foreman Electric donated workers to do the installation.

Earlier this year, Boys and Girls Club Board President Lorrie Vickers said Williams raised $32,000 and then matched it with his own money and is using a portion of it to pay for the repaving of the parking lot at the Woodson Unit. Vickers said the parking lot has to be repaved after a company did a poor job and has not honored its word to fix the problem.

Currently, Vickers said the board has applied for a grant from the M.S. Doss Foundation and said the Club is hoping for approval. The Doss Foundation requires matching funds from other individuals or organizations. If the Doss grant is approved, Williams has money set aside to help the Club meet the matching requirements. The Doss money will go to replace the roof of the gyms on both the Wilkerson and Woodson Units and also the roof of the administration building at Wilkerson. Vickers estimated that cost to be about $200,000. If the Doss grant is approved, Vickers expects to get about half of the $200,000.

However, Vickers said the best-case scenario is if the Doss grant is approved, the Club will be able to find other sources, besides Williams, to match the money. The Club is beginning the process to apply for a partial or total matching grant from the Mabee Foundation.

The reason is getting more bang for the buck. Williams has already agreed to use the money to benefit the Boys and Girls Club and if the Club can match the grant through other avenues, that opens up Williams’ money to be used for other purposes.

“There’s a multitude of things he been looking at,” Vickers said. “He’s got a heart big enough to do it himself. We appreciate anything he does.”

Vickers said Williams is primarily looking to help the Woodson Unit, a place he spent much of his youth.

“His heart is in the Woodson Unit,” Vickers said.