Asbury Park Boys & Girls Club continues to see improvements
'It’s a place that both staff and kids are going to be able to take pride in'
Asbury Park Boys & Girls Club kids walked through a new set of doors into a fully renovated club space for the first time today.
Through a partnership with Lowe’s home improvement store’s Local Heroes program, improvements to the first floor of the building were completed Sunday, according to Douglas Eagles, the club’s executive director.
“It’s gorgeous,” said Eagles. “Lowe’s redid the entire first floor — from the floor to the ceiling and everything in between.”
Improvements include a new tile floor, sheet rock walls with a fresh coat of paint, new drop-ceiling tiles, new carpeting in offices, a set of new front doors and additional landscaping set off by masonry pavers [shown above], Eagles said.
The back patio sports new picnic tables, a grill and a new storage shed, he said.
About $100,ooo in renovations to the club’s second-floor recreation and computer rooms were completed last month.
“It’s a place that both staff and kids are going to be able to take pride in,” Eagles said.
Eagles was told by the volunteer workers from Lowe’s that the cost of improvements is “north of $75,000,” he said.
Over 50 volunteers per day donated time on the weekend to work at the club, he said.
Exterior murals, new windows and an air conditioning unit in the gym are next on Eagles’ agenda for the Asbury Park club, according to Eagles, who took over as the club’s executive director in April of 2012.
An additional $300,000 was given to the club from the Jules L. Plangere, Jr. Family Foundation for the purchase of two new buses, which bring the club’s fleet of vehicles to four, he said.
With a newly renovated space and additional means of transportation to bus kids from their schools to the club, the club will increase their marketing efforts to attract more kids, he said.
The building will be one of their key selling points.
“The kids will have an opportunity to come to a brand new building and have access to life-transforming programs for $20 — it’s a pretty good value that we offer to the community,” he said.
At present there are 250 kids emrolled in the Asbury Park unit’s after school program, he said.
“We’re one step closer to fulfilling our vision statement,” Eagles said. “We recognize that we want to be a beacon of hope to the kids of the community — a fully renovated facility gives kids the opportunity to have pride in something that provides them with the tools and skills to be successful later on in life.”
[Photos provided by Douglas Eagles.]
————————————————————
Follow the Asbury Park Sun on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
