CHRISTIANSBURG -- Do you know where your children are? Amanda Melniczek might, if they are among those taking part in after-school programs at Blacksburg, Christiansburg or Shawsville middle schools.

Melniczek is the new area director for the Boys and Girls Club of the New River Valley, which organized about five years ago to provide an alternative for middle school students being home alone.

"Middle school's a very difficult time. I remember being in middle school," said the Richlands native, who became director in August. "Even a good kid can succumb to peer pressure."

Shawsville resident Sonja Austin said she had found after-school facilities for her daughter, Hannah, during elementary school.

"When she got to middle school, I didn't know what I was going to do because I didn't want her to be a latch-key kid, and she doesn't like to stay alone, anyway," Austin said.

That was when she heard about the Boys and Girls Club's after-school program at Shawsville Middle School. Hannah is now in her third year with the program.

"It's been a great program for me. I'm a single parent and work a full-time job and a couple of part-time jobs," Austin said.

"The plus side for me is, you know, that's when she gets her homework done," Austin said. "It's just so comforting to know this is where she goes, this is where she's going to be."

Sometimes, the program offers field trips, such as the one that introduced Hannah to ice skating, Austin said. The cost is $5 per student for the entire academic year. "So, financially, you just can't beat it," she said.

"That's why people like me are out doing fundraising," Melniczek said. "We need community support to keep our doors open. We operate on grants and community and corporate giving."

The club offers after-school activities at middle schools in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Shawsville for students in grades six through eight. Volunteers, many from Virginia Tech and Radford University, help with studies and homework.

The club also offers regular workshops covering such subjects as the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and also provides arts and crafts activities.

People interested in learning more can attend a Day for Kids from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 14 at Shawsville Middle School. It will offer games, face painting, food, beverages, inflatables and a dunking booth. Admission is $2 per child.

It is open to youngsters of all ages, not just those who take part in the club's program, along with their families.

The club will also hold its annual dinner from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Virginia Tech's German Club, including a live and silent auction and performances by some of the youngsters in the program. Admission is $75.

Athletes from Virginia Tech visit club sites in the fall, and football players come in the spring. There is also a Boys and Girls Club night at a Tech game, and tickets are donated to the participants.

Kim Merrill of Christiansburg said her daughter, Deanna Farley, likes the program so much that she insisted on returning for it after she had left school early for an orthodontist appointment. She gave up a trip to Florida for a summer program with Corey Gordon and other Virginia Tech football players, her mother said. "She hates to miss a day," Merrill said.

"It's just been a godsend for single moms," she said. "I'm a single parent and I have to work. I don't get off work by the time school ends. Even though she's 13, I don't like the idea of her being home alone."

Richelle Price is the program director at the central office in Christiansburg. She makes sure activities at all three sites conform to national program standards.

"It's worked out really well. Everybody's right on track," Price said.

Nearly 500 children are signed up in the New River Valley, more than 20 percent from single-parent homes. Daily attendance at all three sites averages 150.

More than half the middle school students at Shawsville are members, Price said.

New River Valley residents had been talking about forming a club in this region. The idea got a boost from former Secretary of State Colin Powell's graduation speech on volunteerism at Virginia Tech in 1999.

Sometimes, people confuse the club with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, which is a one-on-one mentoring rather than an after-school program, Melniczek said. She would like to see the program expand, perhaps to Auburn or Radford.

Melniczek, formerly Amanda Dye, was Main Street Radford's executive director from 2003 to 2005. Then she worked at Virginia Tech's Center for Regional Strategies.

But she missed working with children, she said. She was a volunteer for an after-school program for four years at Emory & Henry College and worked for two summers with an Upward Bound program.

She said there are after-school care places for elementary schoolchildren, and high school students can be on their own, but there had been few after-school opportunities for middle schoolers.

"It's that in-between age," she said. "There's a lot of kids that need to be served."