Trinity College and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford hosted a family and community barbecue in early June to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Trinity club at the Thomas S. and Ann Johnson Building on Broad Street, across from the Trinity campus. About 100 people attended—young club members and their families, along with President James F. Jones, Jr., Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford president and CEO Sam Gray, Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez, club staff, volunteers and board members, community leaders, and students and staff from Trinity.
As the first Boys & Girls Club in the United States affiliated with a college or university, the club has served as the national model for the “Clubs Go to College” program. Trinity students, under the guidance of the club staff members, assist in running many of the club’s programs for its 500 members. The club and its members have won numerous awards and accolades, most recently the Keystone National Leadership Award, given by the National Boys & Girls Clubs to a club team.
Members of the club, along with children from four other local clubs, receive free ice skating lessons at Trinity’s Koeppel Community Sports Center twice a week during the school year from Trinity volunteers.
Hartford is the birthplace of the national Boys & Girls Club organization and Trinity students were involved as volunteers at the original club, founded in 1860 as the Dashaway Club.
