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| By G. Michael Dobbs Managing Editor CHICOPEE Business leaders, elected officials, and the children who will be using the new addition to the Chicopee Boys & Girls Club gathered on Aug. 16 to celebrate the end of major construction to the club's new gymnasium. As workmen were still finishing the interior, the club's Executive Director, Elizabeth Daley, invited everyone to autograph two panels, which will be installed on the gym's wall. Daley said the new 10,500 square foot gym would have seating for 225 people. The addition will also include a fitness center and meeting rooms. It is the first of the two-phase expansion of the club building. There will be a dividing curtain to separate two half-courts. Daley is hoping to generate revenue from the gym by making it available for rent after the club's programming hours. The cost of the first phase is $1.5 million and Daley said the club is still raising $300,000 to complete fund-raising for it. She expects the gym to be completed by mid-October. Ground was broken for the new building in February. Besides the new gym, the construction project includes converting the present locker room into a kitchen and concession area. The outer wall of the club building will removed so a long hallway links the present building to the new one. Phase two would start, as funding is available, she said. The club needs another $300,000 to renovate the old gym area into a game room and learning center. Noting that thousands of city children use the Boys & Girls Club, she said, "This building had to happen." |