Boys & Girls Club receives grant to support Triple Play athletics program

The Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County is proud to build on its rich, decades-long partnership with the Community Foundation of Henderson County through a new grant award for the athletics program Triple Play, which supports over a thousand local youth annually with structured social-emotional activities, daily exercise and nutritional education.

This grant award will expand the horizons of youth with new ways to get active, express themselves, learn to improve their wellbeing and build the habits of a healthy lifestyle.

Because of this funding, Triple Play will be able to incorporate a larger set of interests to reflect the latest trends that encourage the community to enjoy exercise with their friends, such as pickleball, one of the fastest growing sports in the United States, and cornhole, an increasingly ubiquitous casual game. This grant will also allow Triple Play to offer its core programs to more members through added resources for sports leagues and a critical infusion of basketball supplies.

The lifestyle-inspiring vibrancy of the Boys & Girls Club’s athletics program is especially enhanced by this opportunity to offer an original set of Athletics Clubs that provide engaging interest groups that foster member interest in noncompetitive athletics and outdoors activities. These Athletic Clubs will empower teens to discover a sense of wonder and willpower through regular programs offering hiking, biking and weightlifting in organized, mentor-led trips and classes.

By animating a teen’s interest in personally motivated, goal-oriented activities, the group hopes to instill long-term lessons about honing the dedication and persistence that allows one to make regular physical activity an enduring habit. Despite the breathtaking scenery the Blue Ridge Mountains offer, the 2021 Henderson County Needs Assessment estimated that only 26.1% of adults met the recommended level of exercise, which is why it is so timely and relevant to build programs focused on getting teens outdoors to nurture a lifelong love of nature, fitness and purpose-driven adventure.

“Thank you to the Community Foundation of Henderson County for choosing to give to our kids,” said Josh Thompson, Athletics Director for the Boys & Girls Club. “You are helping to create lasting memories and opportunities to introduce nature and the outdoors, in a new way, to many youths. We are excited to provide fresh and new equipment for our members to use, better themselves with, and learn to have responsibility over. We look forward to sharing with the community the fruits of this investment in our future.”

Additionally, this grant supports the development of Triple Play’s nutritional education component with an herbs class, which will help youth to better understand how to grow nutritious herbs affordably, as well as baking classes, which will teach young people how to create healthy breads, pies, pastries and other treats. The power of baking to provide an artistic outlet and a personally rewarding way to care for the people around you is a crucial skill, which will make members’ lives more dynamic and a little more delightful.

The Community Foundation of Henderson County’s passion for accessible resources, grantmaking generosity and commitment to the wellbeing of our young people continues to expand the capacity for local solutions to pioneer equitable vitality in Henderson County. This grant builds on decades of partnership and collaboration between the Community Foundation and the Boys & Girls Club to deliver lasting value to the next generation.

“We’re so excited to get to work delivering the power of this investment to our young people,” said Carolyn Ashworth, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club. “We’re deeply grateful for the enduring partnership of the Community Foundation of Henderson County, which has strengthened our ability to act on our shared passion to nurture the sustainable wellbeing of our community’s young people, especially those who need us most. This grant for Triple Play will enable us to make a greater impact on our kids’ physical wellbeing and provide a platform for our youth to choose a more resilient and proactive health journey. Sometimes, what young people need the most is just to know how much the community cares about them and their futures.”

To learn more about the Boys & Girls Club of Henderson County, visit bgchendersonco.org or call (828) 693-9444.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Boys & Girls Club receives grant award to support athletics program