The Boys and Girls Club of Whitehorse is hoping a holiday miracle, in the form of more government money, will prevent it from shutting down for good next week.

The organization, which has worked with local youth for the past 10 years, is preparing to close its doors Dec. 14 if it cannot secure enough core funding to keep going.

Executive director Dave Blottner said the club requires $231,000 each year to operate, but it gets only $140,000 annually from the Yukon government and the City of Whitehorse.

"A white knight saviour or a Christmas miracle, we're looking for either," Blottner told CBC News on Monday.

"We've put in a request both to the City of Whitehorse and to [the Yukon government] for an increase of core funding. We haven't really heard back from either of them yet, but either of those coming through could potentially save the Boys and Girls Club."

The Boys and Girls Club's main service has been an after-school drop-in centre in downtown Whitehorse, where Blottner said staff provide healthy meals, provide homework tutoring, and offer employment-related counselling to youth looking for work.

The club also runs programs three days a week from the Chillaxin' Lounge at the Canada Games Centre.

"We found that kids who don't have programming during those hours tend to get in more trouble with the law and that their school [work] just starts to slip as well," he said.

Blottner estimates that 300 to 500 youth access their programs every month.

But he added that getting project funding requires new ideas all the time, and the growing competition for grants has been too much for the club to keep up with.

"There's more competition and fewer grants to go around, and so it's been very difficult for us to supplement our core funding," he said.