It’s on its way toward $1 million, and it has got a good start.

The Boys and Girls Club of Ames is in the process of raising $1 million to finance a new facility for its 420 members, and efforts will continue on April 26 with an exhibition basketball game featuring the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings at Ames High School.

The club, which began raising funds two years ago, still needs about $150,000 to meet its goal, said Geff Gefcheidler, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Ames.

“We have received major contributions from members of the board of directors, individuals in the community and local businesses and service clubs,” Gefcheidler said.

Gefcheidler said the club hopes to raise $8,000 from the exhibition game. Six Vikings’ players will take on local celebrities in the game on April 26 at the high school at 2 p.m. People who want to purchase tickets for the game can go to the Boys and Girls Club located at 104 Kellogg Ave. Tickets for one adult or two children are $5 and a party of five can purchase a group ticket for $12.

Iowa State fraternities and sororities also helped raise money for the Boys and Girls Club by sponsoring volleyball and racquetball tournaments during Greek Week and Veishea.

The Boys and Girls Club occupies 4,000 square feet at the corner of Kellogg and Lincoln Way.

The building will sit on 11,000 square feet on South Fifth Street.

The new building will contain a full-size high school regulation gym, two game rooms, an arts and crafts room, a computer lab and learning center, and a weight, wrestling, aerobics and tae kwon do room.

A large grassy area outside where boys and girls can play soccer, kickball or flag football is also included in the plan.

The Boys and Girls Club plans to begin building sometime this spring and hopes to open its doors late next winter or early next spring. About 70 boys and girls use the facility each day. Gefcheidler estimated about three times as many girls and boys will use the new facility.

“The facility that we’re in now can’t handle the demand,” said Marty Lester, program director for the Boys and Girls Club in Ames. “With the new building, we can add so many more programs to what we have now and host more programs involving the youth of Ames and Story County.”