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NNY Community Foundation Support Helps to Transform
Lewis County’s Double Play Community Center
Published: May 04, 2024 at
01:00 p.m.
By: Press Release from NNY Community Foundation
Community Foundation Helps to Transform Lewis
County’s Double Play Community Center
Support Aids Development of New Lowville Facility,
Builds Permanent Endowment
Dan Myers, executive director of Lowville’s Double
Play Community Center sits in the property
in 2023 that has
become the center’s new home. The Community Foundation awarded Double
Play a pair of grants to help redevelop the former
restaurant and banquet facility on Bardo Road
that consolidates all the organization’s programs
onto a single campus.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kara Dry Photography /For the Community
Foundation
LOWVILLE — A pair of
Community Foundation grants totaling $150,000 have helped Double Play Community
Center transform a former Lowville restaurant and banquet facility off
Bardo Road into a full-service community hub that offers comprehensive
wellness programs for patrons of all ages.
The Foundation’s
Board of Directors in 2023 approved a $100,000 grant to support Double
Play’s capital project and a $50,000 grant to build the nonprofit’s
endowment fund at the Community Foundation.
A ribbon-cutting
ceremony to honor project donors and supporters is slated for 5:30 p.m.
Monday, May 6, in advance of the new facility opening to the public at 5
a.m. the next day. A public open house is planned for later this spring.
“It has been
wonderful to have worked together with Double Play over the last several
years to help them grow, and we are especially pleased to be part of this
transformational next step forward for them,” said Rande S. Richardson,
Community Foundation executive director. “They have worked tirelessly to extend
their reach and we are hopeful our investment will continue to advance
their ability to impact the health and well-being of local residents of all
ages, today and in the future.”
For more than a
decade, Double Play, a longtime Community Foundation partner, has been an all-encompassing
health and
wellness organization focused on improving the quality of life for Lewis
County residents and surrounding communities.
Its programs
center on enrichment, education, recreation, and social activities for
children, teens, seniors, and families. With a grassroots vision, gradual
growth, and through evolution, Double Play has become very similar to a
regional YMCA.
Until now, Double
Play has occupied three spaces in the Village of Lowville to operate an
array of programs. In recent years, it has worked to bring all programming
to one location. That goal came to fruition in late 2022 when the
organization finalized purchase of the former Ridge View Inn, which opens Tuesday
as Double Play’s new permanent home.
Community
Foundation grant support has helped convert the facility into a
10,000-square-foot epicenter for arts, wellness, and recreation for youth,
families, and senior citizens alike.
Double Play
Community Center Executive Director Dan Myers said the Community
Foundation’s support is a meaningful partnership that transcends financial
aid and will “set the stage for a sustainable and bright future for
community development and relationship building.”
“We are beyond
grateful for the generous support and continued confidence in our
organization to make a difference in people’s lives in the North Country,”
Mr. Myers said. “The recent Community Foundation grant award will transform
our area in ways never before thought of in Lewis County and the
surrounding communities.”
Double Play and
the Community Foundation have been partnering for more than a decade by
improving the quality of life through enrichment program development and
facility enhancements.
“The leadership
and board of directors at the Community Foundation continue to value the
vision Double Play has displayed while remaining steadfast in developing a
full-service community center that encompasses wellness of the mind and
body,” Mr. Myers said.
Double Play
Community Center is one of more than 150 tri-county nonprofit organizations
that partners with the Community Foundation. In 2016, Double Play
established a permanent endowment fund at the Foundation. Gifts to help
build Double Play’s endowment may be made securely online at bit.ly/Double-Play-Endowment, or by mail to: Northern
New York Community Foundation, 131 Washington St., Watertown, NY 13601.
About the
Northern New York Community Foundation
Since 1929, the
Northern New York Community Foundation has invested in improving and
enriching the quality of life for all in communities across Jefferson,
Lewis, and St. Lawrence counties.
Through
partnerships with businesses and organizations, charitable foundations, and
generous families and individual donors, the Community Foundation awards
grants and scholarships from an endowment and collection of funds that
benefit the region. Its commitment to donors helps individuals achieve
their charitable objectives now and for generations to come by preserving
and honoring legacies of community philanthropy while inspiring others.
The Community
Foundation is a resource for local charitable organizations, donors,
professional advisors and nonprofit organizations.
It also works to bring people together at its permanent home in the
Northern New York Philanthropy Center to discuss challenges our communities
face and find creative solutions that strengthen the region and make it a
great place to live, work, and play.
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