Leadership donors to the Boys & Girls Club More Than Hope Campaign join in ceremonial groundbreaking ceremony at the site of a new community center under construction. Left to right are Curt Oltmans, Boys & Girls Club trustee standing in honor of Novo Nordisk; Woody Johnson, president and owner of the New York Jets and his mother, Betty Wold Johnson, representing the Snowflake Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust; Eddie Williams, chair of the More Than Hope Campaign; George Briar, on behalf of the Nordson Corporation Foundation; Deborah Sands Gartenberg, a steward of the George and Estelle Sands Foundation; Judith Persichilli, a trustee of the James Kerney Foundation; Felicia DeVincenzi, chair of the Boys & Girls Club Board of Trustees; and David E. Anderson, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County.
On Oct 31, Community supporters joined the Boys & Girls Club of Mercer County leadership, board of trustees, and capital campaign committee at a groundbreaking ceremony for its anticipated state-of-the-art facility, to be located at 1040 Spruce Street in Lawrence Township.
Scheduled to open in September 2015, the community center will feature a gymnasium, teen and technology centers, a game room, teaching kitchen and café and numerous adaptable classrooms.
With its increased capacity, the organization will extend award-winning programs to more than 2,000 additional youths, double the number of teens enrolled in its college and career preparation programs and introduce vocational and technical career tracks.
Club members will have the opportunity to undertake courses in 12 defined career clusters, perform paid internships, achieve certifications and develop social entrepreneurial business ventures.
The campaign’s lead donors include Novo Nordisk, Nordson Corporation Foundation, the James Kerney Foundation, the George and Estelle Sands Foundation, the Rue Foundation, and the Gibson Family Foundation.
Woody Johnson, president and owner of the New York Jets, and his mother, Betty Wold Johnson, represented the Snowflake Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust. A $500,000 gift to fund the Johnson Teen Center in the new community center was the single largest project funded through the Snowflake Foundation, established in February by the host committee of the 2014 New York/New Jersey Super Bowl.
More Than Hope, a campaign of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Mercer County to help youth succeed, is raising $7.5 million to construct the new Clubhouse, build an endowment, and fund cutting-edge programs that will prepare kids to enter the world of work and higher education. For more information visit bgcmercer.org.
