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Members of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Haverhill were surprised Wednesday to witness the arrival of a new passenger van to ensure their participation at various future events.
Executive Director Javier Bristol called the children into the gymnasium to announce the arrival of a 2024 GMC 15-passenger Savana van. Valued at $60,000, it was a gift of the retailer Bridgestone, purchased at DeLuca GMC of Haverhill and delivered under Haverhill Police escort.
“What does that mean for you guys? It means that we will now have two vans that we can utilize and have the flexibility to travel for different events—whether it be sports teams like our basketball AAU boys get to different events and different tournaments, whether it be for our workforce development program whereby director Allison to do some career exploration skill sets, to visit some small businesses, to get to some job training, give you guys the opportunities to get access to different things, that we wouldn’t otherwise have, with access to this new van,” Bristol explained.
Bristol was referencing Allison Heartquist, who runs the Bridge Club, a workforce development program for students in grades 8-12
Patrick Cassella, Bridgestone’s area manager, discussed Bridgestone’s “Driving Great Futures” program that supports Boys and Girls Clubs. It’s paid in part by customer donations and, since 2015, has raised more than $25 million to pay for vans.
“It’s all due to our customers donating every single day in our 2,200 locations worldwide. I’m very, very excited for you guys to see the van. I hope you guys enjoy it. I know transportation is sometimes a challenge, but we’re able to provide an excellent van for you guys to get from point A to point B very safely to have even more of a great experience here at the Boys and Girls Club. Thank you guys very much and enjoy the van!”
The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Haverhill was one of 10 out of 180 applications to receive the Bridgestone grant this year.