Groundbreaking: New Boys & Girls Club and Family Center in Bristol

Rep. Whit Betts talking with Sen. Jason Welch before the ground breaking ceremony at the new Boys & Girls Club Family Center on West Street in Bristol.

Hartford, CT – State Senator Jason Welch (R-Bristol) and Representative Whit Betts (R-Bristol) joined local dignitaries, business leaders and families for the groundbreaking ceremony of the Don Tinty Boys & Girls Club and Family Center on West Street. The new center will include a field house, a technology center, a teen room, an arts and culture center among many other rooms. The center will replace the club’s aging building on Laurel Street. The total price tag for the new building is approximately $12 million. Among the club’s big donors were ESPN, the state, Webster Bank, the Tinty Foundation, Yarde Metals and the Barnes and Roberts families.

Boys & Girls Club Boys & Girls Clubs of America had its beginnings in 1860 with three women in Hartford, Conn.: Mary Goodwin, Alice Goodwin and Elizabeth Hammersley. Believing that boys who roamed the streets should have a positive alternative, they organized the first Club. In 1908 other affiliated clubs joined the cause including the The Bristol Boys & Girls Club which now provides services at ten (10) different locations around the city. To find out more visit http://www.bbgc.org/default.aspx