A Facelift For Red Bank Boys & Girls Club

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By Jay Cook
RED BANK – The lives of over 200 children in the greater Red Bank area just became significantly better.
Thanks to grants totaling nearly $100,000, key improvements were made to Red Bank’s Boys & Girls Clubs of Monmouth County (BGCM) location.
“To have something like this and give back to a place that I grew up in, it’s like out of this universe,” said Christy Davis, the Red Bank unit coordinator.
Davis, who was born and raised on the west side of Red Bank, was most proud to cut the ribbon for the building’s official grand reopening on Oct. 22.
The funds came from two local foundations which aim to support nonprofit organizations, both nationally and locally. The Lowe’s Heroes program provided BGCM with $75,000 for improvements around the 4,000 square-foot facility, while OceanFirst Foundation presented the organization with $18,600 for technology enhancements.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Monmouth County has a history of working with the Lowe’s Heroes program, who renovated the Asbury Park location in 2014.
Lisi Klus, the communications director for BGCM, who primarily works out of Asbury Park, said Lowe’s provided plenty of help in renovating Red Bank’s unit, which was last worked on upon its opening in 2010.

Club kids enjoying the new computer lab, sponsored by OceanFirst Foundation.

“They sent a team of volunteers over several weekends to completely transform what the space looked like,” she said.
Together, Klus and Davis were given the opportunity to shop for the building at 138 Drs. James Parker Blvd.
“They basically said the sky’s the limit, put down everything you can think of whether we’ve got it or not,” Klus said.
The most vital improvements were made to the area that is used each and every day: the kitchen.
Famous throughout the building for her mac and cheese, Davis felt it necessary to play a major part in how the new kitchen would be laid out. Along with a designer brought in by Lowe’s, she arranged every new appliance the way she wanted, ranging from where the new oven and stove would be to which side of the kitchen the refrigerator would be placed.
She also noted how Healthy Habit, a program aimed at teaching youngsters about nutritional value, can become an even greater tool with those cooking upgrades.
“Starting at the beginning of the new year, I actually have a chef coming in once a month that’s going to be facilitating a cooking program, an actual sit-down meal with the kids,” Davis said.
Easily the most noticeable changes to the Red Bank unit can be seen out back, where another big piece of the Lowe’s grant was spent. Instead of the patchy-grass backyard, the transformation into a renovated courtyard has kids excited.
The grass has turned into pavers, creating an even playing surface for the basketball hoop at the head of the patio. Also included is new landscaping with bushes lining the pavers, a pair of picnic tables underneath a newly-built pergola and a shed with a brand-new grill inside, used in September during a pre-opening for the kids.
“We had an opening for the kids, their own little grand reopening,” Davis said. “There’s so much open space, and they were just itching to see what was going on over here.”

Executive director Douglas Eagles speaking to our guests.

While the work from Lowe’s ended outside, the technology upgrades made possible by OceanFirst Foundation added a new layer to the help the Red Bank unit can provide to its members.
Children’s artwork lines a flight of stairs that leads to the brand new computer lab, the Club Technology Center.
Before the upgrades, kids had to take turns sharing only five computers; the new computer lab sports 16 Acer brand desktop computers, with a brand-new smart TV in the corner of the room.
These upgrades in the computer lab afford members a higher level of learning. The BGCM offers tutoring to all the kids, and with the new computers, extra studying is done online at sites like Raz-Kids.com.
Katrina Phillips, an 11-year-old from Shrewsbury, was excited about the upgrades in the Club Technology Center.
“I think it’s good technology, some kids go on math games to get a good education,” she said.
Every bit of help that BGCM receives goes a long way towards the ultimate goal of educating the area’s youth through hands-on and engaging activity.
“I’m proud of these accomplishments, and I’m proud of how we’ve grown as an organization,” Davis said.