We’re proud to announce our collaboration with the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens. As a staple of our community for the better part of a century, they’ve helped shape generations of youth in our area. In turn, those kids have grown up and helped create the neighborhood where we put down our roots. We always strive to give back to the community that helped us grow, so we’re taking this opportunity to donate a portion of the proceeds from this project directly to the Club, to help advance their programs for the youth.
Originally founded as a response to rising gang violence in the Astoria/LIC area in 1955, the Club is now a full-service youth development organization. Serving over 4,000 young people every year, they’re integral to our community, and we’re honored for the opportunity to work with them.
Considering NYC schools are just beginning to listen to the needs of students and parents, the Club has been integral to the development of thousands of young people throughout its history. Though they are an after-school program, the Club provides much more than a place for kids to go after school. In addition to numerous summer programs and field trips, they offer homework help, as well as a wide variety of extracurricular activities such as coding, engineering, gourmet cooking, athletics, film/media production, robotics, drama, and dance. They also offer swim lessons for all ages and skill levels, and have a teen center to specifically cater to the needs of high-school students. The list goes on—they’re an organization whose benefits we can’t overstate.
If you’ve ever walked or driven down 21st Street in Astoria, you’ve probably seen their building (and, more recently, the Biobus parked there), at 21-12 30th Rd. Always looking towards the future, they have plans to construct a new state-of-the-art facility in the near future, to guarantee the Club will continue to make an impact on young people for decades to come. Organizations like this, whose goals are ambitious and clear, are integral to keeping our community prosperous and healthy. We’d like to thank them for allowing us to play a part in their legacy, and for showing us what the future has in store.
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Ever Upward / Boys and Girls Club