Women
on a Mission
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern
Westchester’s
Bonnie Trotta and Seema Boesky
work for Westchester children.
Bonnie
Trotta, president, right, and Seema Boesky, vice-president,
of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern Westchester. |
On
the surface, serendipity and swimming lessons may not have
a lot in common, but they played an enormous part in shaping
the destiny of the Mt. Kisco-based Boys & Girls Clubs
of Northern Westchester.
How so? Well, if not for swimming lessons, philanthropists
Bonnie Trotta and Seema Boesky, the current Boys & Girls
Club’s president and vice-president, respectively,
might never have become associated with this venerable institution.
“I have a thirty-two-year-old who learned to swim
there. In fact, all of my children have benefited from the
club and I’ve always been a supporter,” says
Mt. Kisco resident Boesky.
Trotta, who lives in Chappaqua, also started her association
with the club after enrolling her brood in swimming lessons.
“In the 1980s, I saw a lot of entitled behavior among
area children. I wanted my kids to have a more normal upbringing
and I thought the club could help provide it.”
Since its founding the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northern
Westchester has been a haven for children of all ages and
backgrounds. Today, the 36,000-square-foot facility serves
close to 5,000 children, offering a host of modern amenities,
including an eight-lane swimming pool, licensed preschool
and childcare program, and teen center.
Like many not-for-profit organizations, the club often scrambles
to pay its considerable overhead. “We don’t
have an endowment, so we’re always in a cash crisis,”
observes Boesky.
To help ease the cash crunch, the club holds an annual Humanitarian
Awards dinner. This year’s event, which will honor
volunteers Skip and Michaela Beitzel, is being sponsored
by Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and is slated for
Friday, June 11, at the Westchester Marriott Hotel in Tarrytown.
The gala boasts dozens of private and corporate donors,
including The Bank of New York, Preferred Services Group-Insurance
Services, Houlihan/Lawrence, Inc., and Sony Electronics
Inc. Expected to draw a record crowd, the dinner also features
dancing and a live auction with, according to Boesky, “great
items up for bid, including a cruise.”
Trotta and Boesky, both of whom devote a considerable amount
of their time and resources to numerous philanthropic organizations,
say that the club holds a special place in the hearts and
minds of the community. “I have never served on the
board of an organization so committed to the welfare of
children,” says Boesky.
Adds Brian Skanes, the club’s executive director,
“The Boys & Girls Club is perceived as a strong
organization that serves as an oasis for children in the
community. It is the only club in the area that reaches
out to serve kids who might normally fall through the cracks.”
“The club is more than a spot for kids to go to after
school. Nowadays you see more and more kids from families
where both parents are working,” says Trotta. “The
Boys & Girls Club provides a safe, healthy and nurturing
environment.”
What could be better than that? |
