The Boys and Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley has had a very productive week with its plans for a new complex in west Bryan.
Ten years ago, the city of Bryan gave the organization land for a new building…only to see the city regain control because construction did not start within five years.
On Tuesday night, the Bryan city council without discussion, approved returning the land on Beck Street to the club.
That was followed on Thursday by club officials announcing a $2 million dollar donation from Donald Adam of American Momentum Bank and his wife Donna.
CEO Tiffany Parker says the contribution secures lifetime building naming rights of what will be called the Newman-Adam Boys and Girls Club.
According to a news release, Mr. and Mrs. Adam wanted to honor their mentors and close friends, the late founder of Newman Printing Company Louis Newman Jr. and his wife Mary Elizabeth.
Don Adam said this makes up for not being able to contribute what Newman requested in the campaign for the building that the club has been in since 1964.
The club’s website shows almost $4 million dollars in major gifts towards its five million dollar capital campaign.
Parker expects groundbreaking before the end of March.
When finished in about 18 months, Parker says they will serve at least three times the 15 hundred youth they see each year.
In addition to the capital campaign gift, Parker said a new club branch will open Tuesday in Caldwell, in the former Caldwell ISD middle school gym.
Click below for comments from Tiffany Parker, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.
News release from the Boys & Girls Club of the Brazos Valley:
Donald Adam, chairman and CEO of American Momentum Bank, and his wife, Donna Adam, donated $2 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley on Thursday. The donation supports the nonprofit’s $5-million capital campaign to build a new facility at 1910 Beck St. in Bryan, Texas.
The donation secures lifetime building naming rights for the new facility, which will be known as the Newman-Adam Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley. With the name, Mr. and Mrs. Adam honor the late Louis M. Newman, Jr., and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Newman, who were their mentors and close friends.
“In 1962, when I returned to Bryan/College Station after serving in the military, one of the first businessmen that I met was the founder of Newman Printing Company, Louis M. Newman, Jr.,” said Adam. “It was with great surprise that we were befriended by this leading businessman and his wife, who treated us with as much kindness as if we had been members of the community our entire lives.”
In 1964, Newman was part of a committee to raise funds for a new building for what was at that time known as Boys Clubs of Brazos County, Inc. He asked Adam to make a sizable donation. But Adam, still building his career, wasn’t able to contribute the amount requested.
“I had to explain with embarrassment that my wife and I were barely getting by,” said Adam. “I assured Mr. Newman that I would work harder so that, if I were ever called upon again, I would be able to honor such a request.”
Adam is now honoring that request 55 years later, with this $2 million donation to help fund a new Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley. The new facility will replace the existing clubhouse, which was originally built in the 1960s.
“We have been very fortunate to grow American Momentum Bank over the years and develop invaluable client relationships,” said Adam. “This wonderful community has supported us, and we are honored and humbled to give back through this donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs, as well as to honor our lifelong friends and fulfill a promise I made over 50 years ago.”
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley is a locally controlled youth development organization and a chartered affiliate of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The club in Brazos Valley opened in 1959, and today serves over 1,500 youth annually. The capital campaign currently underway will fund a new facility on a 6-acre tract of land at the corner of Cedar St. and Beck St. in Bryan. The new facility will include upgrades in security and technology, and be able to serve three times more youth daily.
