Groundbreaking for North Port Boys & Girls Club held to thank Atlanta Braves for support

NORTH PORT – Wiffle balls and bats took the place of shovels March 12, as the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Steven and Marjolaine Townsend Campus for the Gene Matthews Boys & Girls Club in North Port.

The event was timed to thank the Atlanta Braves – in the midst of Major League Baseball Spring Training at Cool Today Park – and provide an update on plans for the 14,000-square-foot facility.

Most of the current club – which opened in 1997 on a former church site – was damaged by Hurricane Ian on Sept. 28, 2022.

The Boys & Girls Club board had already contemplated expanding the North Port facility and even moving to another location in the city, but the COVID-19 pandemic halted fundraising.

Then Hurricane Ian damaged two of three buildings, leaving it to operate out of the gymnasium.

Bill Sadlo, president & CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties, said board members decided there was no need to move it elsewhere.

“When we surveyed the damage to our families' homes, we just drove around the few mile radius of the club after the hurricane and saw where our families lived during the storm − we knew we were in the right place,” Sadlo said. “That’s when we made the decision to move forward.”

An early unveiling

Typically, the Boys & Girls Clubs don’t go public until most of the fundraising has been completed behind the scenes.

“The timing wasn’t where we wanted to be but Hurricane Ian forced our hand and Steve Townsend and Marge Townsend stepped up with a gift of $1 million and then Jamie and Julie Di Domenico followed up with a half-a-million dollar contribution,” Sadlo said.

With Matthews’ health failing, Sadlo unveiled plans for the new club at a North Port City Commission meeting on April 11, 2023, as part of the city’s celebration of Gene Matthews Day.

At that celebration Sadlo stressed that the new club would still honor Matthews – who died less than four months later – at the new facility.

“He would not take no for an answer, especially when he was advocating for the children of North Port,” Sadlo said.

More funding needed

To date, about $3.5 million for an estimated $9 million project has been raised.

Townsend is the Boys & Girls Club Foundation president and DiDomenico, president of CoolToday, is a board member.

Both went with Sadlo to approach the Gulf Coast Community Foundation about a major capital grant.

Gulf Coast committed about $1 million.

The Atlanta Braves Foundation, represented on March 12 by Vice President of Community Affairs & Executive Director Danielle Bedasse, has also made a significant but undisclosed donation, according to Sadlo.

Jon Thaxton, senior vice president for community leadership for the Gulf Coast Community Foundation, noted that the nonprofit has a long history of supporting the club in North Port, and was a primary funder in the acquisition of the land and former church at 6851 South Biscayne Drive.

In addition to the capital grant, Thaxton said the foundation will approach significant donors it works with “and explain to them that we believe this is a much needed facility and these are children that we cannot let slip through the cracks...."

The Boys & Girls Clubs have "a proven laser focus of meeting the needs of those children and those are the kinds of agencies that we support," representing "a very good investment of their philanthropic dollars.”

A key federal grant application

Thaxton and Gulf Coast have also worked with the Boys & Girls Clubs on an application for a $4 million grant from the $201.5 million Resilient SRQ federal block grant program for Hurricane Ian relief, of which 70% must be used to benefit low to moderate income people.

About $70 million of that was set aside for infrastructure, though $25 million was specifically earmarked for the elevation and widening of South River Road.

That leaves $45 million for projects proposed by North Port, Sarasota County, other municipalities and area nonprofits.

The window to apply for that funding opened Feb. 5 and ends March 18 – the day before the Sarasota County Commission is scheduled to hear an update on the overall program.

Thaxton said he felt the Boys & Girls Clubs’ application should be a strong one.

“I think it’s one of the strongest projects going, in terms of a common sense approach in terms of what federal money should be used for in a disaster recovery effort,” Thaxton said. “This is clearly the population that is being impacted.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Funding still needed for new North Port Boys & Girls Club after storm