Girls Club

The goal was one year. Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino assured the youth at the Nicetown Boys and Girls Club last spring that he'd help their crumbling haven get an overdue makeover. Through the foundation that bears his name, Victorino and his wife donated $900,000 to the club, and construction on the 105-year-old building, once slated for possible closing, began last week. The updated center - with its upgraded teen room, technology center, fully equipped gym, and art room, among other offerings - is scheduled to reopen in late summer.

Around the nation and the state, reports of gang activity among young people are on the rise. Although gangs are not a problem in Glassboro, officials there are taking steps to head off any. With a $50,000 grant from the state Attorney General's Office, the Glassboro Boys and Girls Club Inc. recently incorporated Project Vision, an anti-gang initiative that will introduce new programs and expand existing activities at the club to give children from...

For the last decade, the Boys' and Girls' Club of Chester has had the only open-air swimming pools in Chester, a struggling city of about 40,000. That will change next month, when the city opens up a large municipal pool. What won't change, however, is the club's decades-long tradition of providing sanctuary to children from Chester's often-dangerous streets under the firm hand of such leaders as executive director George E. Carter, a well-loved practitioner of the tough-but-tender school of child guidance.

The lesson for the day was hurricanes in general. Hugo in particular. The class learned well. Not only did the young students find out about the devastation and havoc Hurricane Hugo inflicted in September, but they got hands-on experience on how to help the victims of the killer 'cane. So tomorrow, a van hauling bleach, beans, buckets and brooms will leave the Nicetown Boys & Girls Club, 18th Street and Hunting Park Avenue, for a muddied and badly damaged youth club in Charleston, S.C. The idea of the Nicetown kids lending a hand to their inner-city peers in Charleston was sparked during the club's daily after-school tutoring program on Sept.

In a weather-beaten building that was once home to a Howard Johnson's restaurant on Route 130 in Burlington Township, a stone's throw from Willingboro, Ted Nixon has set up shop for the administrative office of the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington County. Inside the dingy structure, still damp and chilled from a harsh winter, executive director Nixon is not deterred from his mission of researching, procuring funding and implementing programs for the 300 children, 13 to 18 years old from throughout Burlington County, who are involved in the program.

It's about time. That was the response, along with a sigh of relief, from Florence Fleuristal as she returned registration forms for her daughters to participate in the first Boys and Girls Club in Paulsboro. "They need something to do around here," said Fleuristal, a mother of four who lives about a block from the club. "There is no after-school program and nothing to do on weekends. This is something they can get involved in. " Her daughters, Naika and Kimberly, were among the first of several hundred children and adolescents who are expected to become members of the nationally known club.

OFFICIALS at the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys and Girls Club said Tuesday that they'll miss the namesake benefactor whose generous contribution funded a major portion of the club's renovation. "We will miss him physically, but his impact will always be remembered," Director Anthony Powell said at the club, which reopened eight months ago, after he heard the news that the Flyin' Hawaiian was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. "We're sorry that he had to go. " Victorino and his wife, Melissa, donated $900,000 through the Shane Victorino Foundation to renovate the century-old facility at 18th Street and Hunting Park Avenue.

In an effort to add classrooms to the Knowledge A to Z (KATZ) Academy Charter School in Camden, the city Planning Board approved a proposal Thursday that would eliminate a pool in the Parkside Boys and Girls Club, which houses the school. The school wants to fill in the pool to make room for seven classrooms, bringing its total to 15. The extra classrooms could add 112 students, said Marcella Dalsey, president and cofounder of the charter. The school now has 135 students in the Parkside building and 60 at a former school in the city's Rosedale section.

The Sixers helped out at the Germantown Boys and Girls Club yesterday. Allen Iverson (right) and Jerry Stackhouse helped with Halloween packages for 180 children at the Stenton Manor Homeless Shelter.

Although Nyaire enjoys playing football and running track, his favorite sport is basketball. In fact, the 14-year-old is so passionate about the game that he dreams of playing it professionally some day. His proudest achievement was winning his first basketball championship at the Boys and Girls Club. His most prized possessions are his basketball and his sneakers. Outgoing, happy, and cooperative, Nyaire gets along well with adults and with his peers. In his foster placement, he cheerfully helps around the house, including vacuuming, doing laundry, washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, and taking out the trash.

In an effort to add classrooms to the Knowledge A to Z (KATZ) Academy Charter School in Camden, the city Planning Board approved a proposal Thursday that would eliminate a pool in the Parkside Boys and Girls Club, which houses the school. The school wants to fill in the pool to make room for seven classrooms, bringing its total to 15. The extra classrooms could add 112 students, said Marcella Dalsey, president and cofounder of the charter. The school now has 135 students in the Parkside building and 60 at a former school in the city's Rosedale section.

The girls on the crowded stage at the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County looked tense and frustrated as they tried to replicate the complicated dance moves members of the Camden Sophisticated Sisters drill team were demonstrating. About 100 girls ages 3 to 18 had come Saturday to audition for the team, which has been featured on CNN and NBC as a bright spot in a troubled city. Tawanda "Wa-Wa" Jones, who founded the team 26 years ago, had not let the prospective members in on a little secret: Almost all would get in. "This is not about the trophies," Jones said as she supervised from below the stage.

It looks like Shane Victorino wants Philadelphia to know there are no hard feelings over his trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In full-page ads in the Inquirer and the Daily News, the suddenly former Phillies outfielder offers his thanks in Hawaiian. "Mahalo Philadelphia and to the Amazing Phillies fans for all the GREAT memories!" says the ad, signed by Victorino and his wife, Melissa. Besides a photo of the couple and their two daughters, the ad has pictures of the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys and Girls Club building and of the slugger with some club members at Citizens Bank Park.

OFFICIALS at the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys and Girls Club said Tuesday that they'll miss the namesake benefactor whose generous contribution funded a major portion of the club's renovation. "We will miss him physically, but his impact will always be remembered," Director Anthony Powell said at the club, which reopened eight months ago, after he heard the news that the Flyin' Hawaiian was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. "We're sorry that he had to go. " Victorino and his wife, Melissa, donated $900,000 through the Shane Victorino Foundation to renovate the century-old facility at 18th Street and Hunting Park Avenue.

A photo caption Friday incorrectly located the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys and Girls Club, which is at 18th Street and Hunting Park Avenue in the Nicetown section of North Philadelphia. The Inquirer wants its news report to be fair and correct in every respect, and regrets when it is not. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, contact assistant managing editor David Sullivan (215-854-2357) at The Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia 19101, or e-mail dsullivan@phillynews.com .

MARTISHA HARDY just walked in to pick up her sister from an after-school program. She had no intention of getting involved with the Nicetown Boys and Girls Club. It just wasn't the "cool" place to hang out. A decade later, Hardy is a part-time instructor at the facility while home on winter break and plans to go full-time this summer after her sophomore year at Kutztown University. The latter, a place she's not sure she would have even been able to attend without the help of the Boys and Girls Club.

HE SAT IN his car and fashioned his resolve. Stick to the script, Shane Victorino told himself repeatedly yesterday morning. Let the others handle the magnitude of the event and the emotions of the day. No crying in - or out - of baseball. And then he walked to the podium outside the Boys & Girls Club that his money refurbished and did what he does best. He poured out his heart, thanked everyone in attendance, from ESPN's Chris Berman to the city's cops and firefighters, cried repeatedly and at one point, waved away the script as if a bug in the batter's box. "To think that a kid in this community will benefit from this Boys & Girls Club means so much to me," he said, dabbing a stream of tears as his voice continued to quiver.

The all-star centerfielder had made a promise to renovate the rundown Boys and Girls Club, near a gas station and a struggling high school, into a place of dreams and pride. Standing outside its doors Thursday, under the threat of gray clouds, the Phillies' own Shane Victorino, dressed plainly in a white shirt and jeans, with leis around his neck, stood on a makeshift stage, lowered his head, and wiped away tears. The newly renovated club in Nicetown, which now bears his name and his promise, had officially reopened.

The all-star centerfielder had made a promise to renovate the rundown Boys and Girls Club, near a gas station and a struggling high school, into a place of dreams and pride. Standing outside its doors Thursday, under the threat of gray clouds, the Phillies' own Shane Victorino, dressed plainly in a white shirt and jeans, with leis around his neck, stood on a makeshift stage, lowered his head, and wiped away tears. The newly renovated club in Nicetown, which now bears his name and his promise, had officially reopened.