Photos: Philip Ross.
The Lower Eastside Girls Club will field two new softball teams with the help of a $5,000 check, but the check itself disappeared before it could be presented at East River Park yesterday afternoon.
SportsNet New York planned to turn over an oversized $5,000 check to the Girls Club, to go toward uniforms and equipment for its new Avenue D Sluggers. But before that could happen, the car containing the giant check was towed away, all but kiboshing the presentation ceremony. But there’s no crying in baseball, or softball, either – so the folks at SNY gave the Girls Club 100 tickets to a Mets game on July 24 and promised to present the check then.
The donation is being made in honor of the 40th anniversary of Title IX, which bans gender discrimination in educational programs receiving federal assistance, and will allow two teams of girls aged six to 12 to play at East River Park every Saturday. It’s the first sports team that the Girls Club has fielded in a few years. Read more…
Meredith Hoffman The actress Rosario Dawson leads members of the Lower Eastside Girls Club in a cheer at a ground-breaking ceremony Friday for the club’s new home.
Meredith HoffmanMs. Dawson spoke at the ceremony (top) before joking around with some of the club’s members. She was joined by local elected officials, including City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez.Dave Pentecost’s eyes gleamed as he pointed up at the steel and wood building frame being constructed over East Eighth Street near Avenue D.
“That’s where the 30-foot high dome of the planetarium will rise,” said Mr. Pentecost, the technology director for The Lower Eastside Girls Club. During a brief tour, Mr. Pentecost described the green features of the $26 million, 12-story building that would soon fill the muddy construction site, from green roofs to solar panels, which would produce electricity for the site, to water collectors which would water the gardens holding a sculpture created by neighbor, the artist Kiki Smith.
In addition to 78 units of mixed-use housing, this will be the future home of The Lower Eastside Girls Club. The Norwegian maples which had filled the lot had been cut on site and made into lumber which would eventually serve as tables in the conference room. Mr. Pentecost is looking forward to seeing a ‘58 Airstream trailer soon hoisted into place and converted into a state of the art recording studio where local girls would learn recording technology.
The ground-breaking ceremony Friday was graced with a parade of politicians and dignitaries including Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Council Member Rosie Mendez, Borough President Scott Stringer. The loudest applause greeted actress and neighborhood celebrity Rosario Dawson as she excitedly told how she looked forward to working in The Girls Club library.
Meredith Hoffman Members of the Girls Club at Friday’s ceremony.
