Cardin, Van Hollen present $1M to Boys & Girls Club
CAMBRIDGE — Maryland’s two U.S. senators were both on hand to present a large federal grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore’s program on Leonards Lane. Maryland's two U.S. senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen presented a $1 million dollar check to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore's program on Leonards Lane. The funding is part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill and is earmarked for the organization's Enhancing School Capacity to Address Youth Violence program to boost students’ safety and help reduce school violence. The visit culminated at the site of the renovation project at the former Mace’s Lane High School, which will become a community center and the new home of the Cambridge Boys and Girls Club. Earlier in the day, the senators distributed “direct federal investments” of $1m dollars each to Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, The Arc of Central Maryland Region in Easton and Building African American Minds in EastON. The senators were greeted by Boys & Boys & Girl Clubs ofropolitan Baltimore President and CEO Jeff Breslin and local officials to illustrate the need for funds. Club Manager Gabriel Butler said it is exciting to be able to get the kids what they need, and the club manager said they are making sure every dollar is spent wisely.
Published : one year ago by CONNIE CONNOLLY [email protected] in
CAMBRIDGE — Maryland’s two U.S. senators were both on hand to present a large federal grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore’s program on Leonards Lane.
Democrat Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen presented a $1 million dollar check at a 4 p.m. press conference and after-school meet-and-greet Friday, March 17, in Cambridge. The funding is part of the Fiscal Year 2023 Omnibus Appropriations Bill.
The money is earmarked for the organization’s Enhancing School Capacity to Address Youth Violence program to boost students’ safety and help reduce school violence.
The visit culminated at the site of the renovation project at the former Mace’s Lane High School, which will become a community center and the new home of the Cambridge Boys & Girls Club.
Earlier in the day, the senators distributed “direct federal investments” of $1 million dollars each to Chesapeake College in Wye Mills, The Arc of Central Maryland Region in Easton and Building African American Minds in Easton.
Van Hollen, along with Cardin and his wife Myrna, got into the spirit of the after-school St. Patrick’s Day activity of making green slime.
“It’s a little bit like making legislation,” Van Hollen said. “There are three things you don’t want to see being made: sausage, legislation and slime.”
“Sen. Van Hollen and I are so pleased to be here, and thank you for bringing Ghostbusters to us,” Cardin quipped.
The senators were greeted by Boys & Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Baltimore President and CEO Jeff Breslin and local officials.
“What happens here at the club every day, whether it’s slime or STEM or anything in between — that’s absolutely what our young people deserve,” Breslin said. “So, on behalf of Boys & Girls Clubs, we just want to say thank you very much for the support and for this grant.”
“Clearly, what you’re doing here is (a program) that we strongly support,” Cardin said.
“I couldn’t be more happy to be with the Boys & Girls Club,” Van Hollen said. “You do amazing work.”
Breslin shared a story from the superintendent of the construction company of the Maces Lane project to illustrate the need for funds. “He said things are going great, ... but when the kids get out of school, they try to climb the fence” into the construction project, he said.
“If that’s not a reason why we have to build that building, and why it has to open soon, then I’ve never heard a better one,” Breslin said.
Choptank Elementary School and Mace’s Lane Middle School “are literally yards away” from the new location of the Boys & Girls Club in Cambridge,” Breslin said.
Club Manager Gabriel Butler said, “It’s exciting to be able to get the kids what they need.”
“It’s exciting to be able to hire more staff, to partner a little more with the school system,” Butler said. “We’re going to make sure every dollar is spent wisely. And we’re going to make sure the kids are building great futures.”