ZEBULON - It was freezing cold Monday morning but that didn’t prevent about 20 children from lining up outside the front door of the new Zebulon Boys & Girls Club facility in anticipation of the new clubhouse opening its doors to area children for the first time.

“We opened a couple minutes before 8 a.m. and had kids tapping on the door waiting to get in. It was nice to see that excitement before we even opened. It was very encouraging,” Club Director Karl Thoma said.

By 11 a.m. there were about 80 club members in the new facility, but the 15,000-plus square foot club still looked relatively empty.

“That gives you an idea how many kids we can comfortably put in this facility,” Thoma said.

Thoma expected attendance to top 150 kids by the end of the new club’s first day. That figure included old faces and new. About 10 first-time attendees were among the pack enjoying the facility by noon.

Fundraising for the new facility was kick-started by $550,000 in federal grant funding, which was passed down the line for the new facility in May 2010.

With the grant and other funds raised, Wake County Boys & Girls Club leaders were able to take out a loan for the remainder of the approximately $3 million project. Dignitaries broke ground on the site of the new facility in March 2011.

“Everybody’s just excited about the new opportunities,” Thoma said. “There’s always smiles at the Boys & Girls Club. There’s a few extra today.”

A smile that couldn’t be missed was that of 17-year-old junior staffer Jovon Smith.

Smith has been a club member since he was 5 years old. He’s been on the junior staff for the last four years. His role includes providing tours, running the cheerleading and choir programs, and assisting in other programs as needed.

“This club means a lot to me. I’ve been waiting for eight years to get in this building,” Smith said. “Now look at how far it has come. Every time I look at it I’m like, ‘Is this our Boys & Girls Club?’“

It took little time for Smith to realize the new facility was greater than he had anticipated. He said the extra space allows programs to be held the way they are intended to be held. The programs were held in the old facility — a modular building on the Zebulon Middle School campus — but not as comfortably.

“We don’t have to use an outdoor area. We can use our gym,” Smith said. “In our old building the education room was the program room, the education room, plus the library. I had to have choir rehearsal and cheerleading in the computer lab or back room. I’m just so happy.”

Zirous Merrick is another club member who was reveling in the size of the new facility. An 11-year-old Zebulon Middle School student Merrick has been a club member for 6 years,

“The old building was small. It was packed. This one’s a lot bigger. We’ve got more room for more kids than we did,” Merrick said.