Boys and Girls Club celebrates ‘AshBritt Day’

Published 1:00 pm Friday, December 15, 2023

Pictured are Lowndes Commissioner Scott Orenstein of District 2, Commissioner Wisenbaker of District 3, AshBritt Senior Vice President Matt Gierden, AshBritt Vice President of Business Affairs Sara Perkins, Boys and Girls Club of Valdosta Vice President of Development & Marketing Kristin Hanna, Board Chairman Bill Slaughter, Commissioner Joyce Evans of District 1, County Manager Paige Dukes and Commissioner Demarcus Marshall of District 4.

VALDOSTA — After the extensive damages caused by Hurricane Idalia, parts of Valdosta and the surrounding areas are still recovering. A crucial piece of the community affected by Idalia was the Boys and Girls Club, which suffered an inch of standing water to the gym’s floor. The threat of the water getting into the floor and creating a mold issue triggered a short time frame to replace the affected material to ensure the children’s safety.

Kristin Hanna, Vice President of Marketing and Development for the Boys and Girls Club, said, “Usually, we have time to fundraise and figure out a solution, but this was a really big bill to get all of a sudden to get the floor switched.” This was when AshBritt, a national turnkey rapid-response disaster recovery and special environmental services contractor, reached out to offer them whatever they needed. The Boys and Girls Club immediately lined up contractors to replace the damaged floor completely.

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AshBritt team members traveled to Lowndes County on Tuesday, Dec. 12th, to officially announce the project at the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners meeting. The team also stopped by the Greater Valdosta United Way and presented another contribution to United Way CEO Michael Smith, whom Mayor Scott Matheson was also in attendance. The generous donation of $53,000 to repair the gym floor would be officialized the same day Mayor Matheson would make a surprise proclamation: Dec. 12th would be “AshBritt Day” in the City of Valdosta.

An official statement from AshBritt summarized the events leading to their donation to The Boys and Girls Club and their work in areas such as Dasher, Remerton, and Lowndes. Ashbritt stated they will continue to provide support where needed, stating in their press release, “While this marks a great step in progress in the community, there is still much work to be done, and AshBritt plans to be a large part of it.”

Hanna considers the Boys and Girls Club lucky. Their main facility faced very little damage and could reopen when all other schools did after the hurricane. They got the water out of the gym and opened it back up in a safer, more supervised way, ensuring the doors were open. Hanna understood the urgency of the replacement, “I just knew we were on a ticking clock to get it replaced.”

Asked if this donation from AshBritt would bring any other improvement to the gym, Hanna said, “We’re going to replace the floor and patch up some of the installations. Our kids play kickball, dodgeball, and basketball in there, so some installation gets damaged.”

Hanna feels a big part of the situation is how often their gym is used daily. “In our downtown facility alone, we have five hundred kids in the buildings every day. They are rotating through all kinds of spots, but the gym is a really critical and popular part of that.”

The organization believes in its mission of “Giving kids a safe place to learn and grow.” Hanna stated in support of this mission, “Kids have been sitting at their desk learning but need a place to move and have a lot of fun. Getting the gym back on the roster was really vital.”

The future for the Boys and Girls Club is bright, with the grand reopening of ‘The AshBritt Foundation Gym’ planned for early 2024.