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Date: 3/1/2018
CHICOPEE – Thanks to a combination of funding and volunteer labor, two former and outmoded restrooms at the Boys & Girls Club have been transformed into useful spaces.
On Feb. 22, the new spaces were formally unveiled for Mayor Richard Kos and members of the club’s board.
The club’s executive director, Jason Reed, explained, “We took two outdated restrooms and transformed them to much more usable space to serve programming needs.
The project was made possible in partnership with the city of Chicopee Community Development Block Grant Program and The Agnes M. Lindsey Trust, Evergreen Construction, Pilgrim Interiors, Westover Building Supply Co., and Westover Job Corps Center.
Reed said that old walls were removed and new ones better divided the space, new plumbing was installed and new ceilings hung.
The men’s room was turned into needed office space for the new staff positions that have been created, while the ladies room was divided to house a new unisex rest room as well as a small meeting space, ideal for teachers and social workers to meet with club members.
Alice Buckner, the business and community liaison for the Job Corps, said the plumbing program has worked before with the city, as there is no plumbing program at Chicopee Comprehensive High School. The Job Corps students most recently participated in the renovations that are being made to the Public Safety Complex, she added.
Kos praised Kathleen Lingenberg, the administrator of the Community Development Office, for her knowledge on how to “leverage block grant funds.”
“This wouldn’t have happened without this program,” Reed said of the block grant funding.