Woonsocket, Cumberland-Lincoln Boys and Girls Clubs plan to merge
The Boys and Girls Club of Woonsocket and the Boys & Girls Club of Cumberland-Lincoln have merged, leaders of the new organization say.
Gary Rebelo, who previously served as the director of the Cumberland-Lincoln organization, said the two clubs are now operating under a single board of directors and the real estate assets are now held by one corporate entity. The merger officially took effect last week.
Head of the Cumberland-Lincoln organization for about two years, Rebelo confirmed he is the director of the newly merged organization. He declined to go into details, saying a formal announcement will be made during a press briefing at 1 McKee Way in Cumberland on Tuesday.
The move comes in the wake of the retirement of Dan Grabowski, the founding director of the Boys and Girls Club of Woonsocket, which has been operating out of the former Kendrick Avenue School since 2005 – three years after the organization was established. Sources who asked not to be named pending a formal announcement said Jeff Polucha, the chairman of the board of directors, and Ross Silva, his counterpart at the Cumberland-Lincoln club, will serve as co-directors of the new entity, to be renamed the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Rhode Island.
“I think this is incredibly positive,” said Ilanna Ball Coulbourn, a trustee of the Woonsocket club and also of the successor organization. “I’m so excited to be a part of this new club. I think there are some things Woonsocket does really well and some things Cumberland does really well. The merger will create such a strong institution and Gary has such a great vision – I think we’re going to make amazing strides in the
next two to five years.”
Grabowski will continue to work with the new club on a consulting basis, trustees say.
Club sources say there
were were multiple reasons for the merger, including continuity of leadership, the ability to bring a more diverse collection of programs to a larger number of members and streamlining fundraising operations. The nonprofit organizations are only a few miles away, but both secure
funding from some of the same corporate and philanthropic sources who will now be dealing with one benefactor instead of two.
The merger creates an organization with a budget of approximately $2 million. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Northern Rhode Island will continue maintaining both existing sites and has longrange plans of launching other satellites in the region.
The Kendrick Avenue site is operating at capacity and the new organization will explore a possible expansion, sources close to the merger say.
Located at 7 Kendrick Avenue, the former elementary school was built in 1895 and has about 12,264 square feet of usable space. The facility includes an outdoor splash park for younger members and offers a number of programs that the Cumberland facility does not, including a boxing instruction, “Smart Girls,” and “Passport to Manhood.”
Likewise, membership at the Cumberland facility comes with perks that are unavailable in Woonsocket, including an aquatics program built around the club’s swimming pool.
While the Woonsocket club’s lineage dates back less than two decades, the Cumberland facility traces its roots to 1956, when it was founded in the former American Legion Post No. 14 by a dedicated band of volunteers.
In 1959, the town of Cumberland donated two acres to the club, off Martin Street. A year later, Cumberland and Lincoln teamed up on a fundraising campaign that led to the construction of a masonry clubhouse that was dedicated in 1961. Since then the organization has built several additions, including the pool, which came in 1970, and outdoor play areas. The existing building is about 13,170 square feet.
According to its website, over 100 children aged 5-18 take part in programs offered through the Woonsocket facility daily, and the Cumberland club is believed to handle at least as many.