A place to grow
New building rejuvenates Lawrence Boys and Girls Club
From Water Street, it looks like a condo development.
It isn't.
That new building sitting along the Merrimack River in Lawrence has a loftier purpose: serving the children of this city, and when possible, getting them into good schools and eventually college. Now, it's open for business.
After months of planning, untold hours of fund-raising, and a devastating fire to an annex, a new Lawrence Boys and Girls Club is inviting the city's youth to take part in a variety of programs aimed at getting them off the streets and on the path to a brighter future.
The building is not only revitalizing a 116-year-old Lawrence institution, it's laying the foundation for future generations.
As in the old building, youths can participate in basketball leagues, a swimming program, and after-school tutoring. But now, at the new $8 million facility, they also can learn knitting, play pool, practice hip-hop dancing in a dance studio, record music with high-tech computer equipment, and maybe even pick up some cooking skills.
In its first few weeks, the club has hosted about 500 young people a day, according to club officials. Around 25 have been joining every day, and 200 have dinner at the club every night.
Still, Steve Kelly , an associate director of the club, for whom the new building will be named, said the 58,000 -square-foot building won't radically change the mission of the Lawrence Boys and Girls Club.
"This building gives us a chance to expand what we do," said Kelly, who has worked at the club for 43 years. "Kids used to get thrown out of the gymnasium and the cafeteria because of the lack of space . Not anymore."
Youths age 7 to 18 visit the club, which in recent years has served around 3,100 children per year. Kelly said he expects the number who walk through the doors to go up.
Erecting the building took about 14 months. During construction, students were encouraged to visit a temporary Boys and Girls Club on Haverhill Street. Kelly said the club was closed only a few days when it moved from the temporary building to the new one.
Around the corner from the temporary building was the club's
For Devon "Campe" Cabrera , 17 , an aspiring reggaeton artist, the fire broke his heart. He had spent most of his afternoons at the computer house , mixing his music and teaching younger children how to use software like Photoshop.
At the new club, the computer lab is back, and so is Cabrera. Students and club officials say they see him working on his music as he did this summer.
Andy Kassongo , 7 , also used to frequent the old computer lab. On a recent afternoon at the new club, Kassango was at one of the PCs playing a dragon game. He said he often comes to the club right after school, "because I like the Internet."
The club is also repackaging some of its older, popular programs like "academic basketball." That program encourages students to keep a high grade-point average and constantly update club officials on their academic performance in order to play for the club team.
The new building allows for boys and girls to participate in the program, said Billy Robertson , director of operations. "We have a much bigger facility now," he said. "The old building was decaying so much and the layout wasn't conducive to co-eds."
Kadeem Perez , 14 , said he was glad to be playing on new courts. The eighth-grader at the Andover School of Montessori credits the program for getting him a scholarship at the school and helping him keep his grades up. "It's helped a lot of people," he said.
Perez said the new facilities will encourage other students to join programs like academic basketball.
The new building also has invigorated the connection between former club members and current students.
The club's director of program services, Manny Ayala , 35, said he "feels a sense of pride" that students are joining the club daily as word spreads about the new building and programs. That's because Ayala himself started coming to the old Lawrence Boys and Girls Club when he was 7.
"It's nice to see new kids here walk in when they are 7 and know they will leave here with a bright future," said Ayala, a native of Lawrence.
"I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world."
Those former club members sometimes become mentors. That was the case of Jose Otero , 24, and Warren Wilson , 19. Kelly and Ayala served as mentors to the two who are now working at the club as mentors.
"Manny was like a big brother to me," Otero said of Ayala. "He was always trying to teach us how to be a good man."
Wilson, a wide receiver at Boston College, credits the two men for getting him into a private school and into college. He also credits them with his desire to come back and work with students who are just like he was.
"They made me who I am today," said Wilson.
"I owe almost everything to them."
Russell Contreras can be reached at rcontreras@globe.com. 
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
