Clarios and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee celebrate reopening of 32 facilities to support area youth
MILWAUKEE – July 8, 2020 – Clarios and Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee (BGCGM) today held a grand reopening event where Clarios presented a $100,000 donation to support the safe reopening of 70 percent of BGCGM locations at reduced capacity. The “Smart Restart Initiative” will resume summer programming after being paused due to COVID-19. Activities will be structured to ensure the protection of staff and students and will focus on safety, nutrition, recreation and academic support.
Clarios’ CEO, Mark Wallace, attended the event and presented the donation. The company’s leadership was particularly drawn to BGCGM’s focus on supporting the whole child, from keeping them safe and meeting their basic needs to strengthening their academic performance, building character and encouraging healthy lifestyles.
“Our company and our more than 500 employees have been a part of Milwaukee for more than a century. We are honored to continue supporting organizations in our hometown that are helping to close the education gap many children are facing due to the pandemic,” said Wallace. “This program’s mission aligns with our strategic philanthropic priorities focused on children’s health and the environment, as well as sustainable communities. What’s more, it provides our employees an opportunity to step up, speak up, and play a role in solving the challenges we face in our city through a deliberate focus on children’s health and well-being.”
This week, BGCGM reopened 25 Clubs, bringing their total open sites to 32. This means the Clubs have the capacity to provide in-Club services to 1,500 kids per day and potentially more depending on evolving health guidelines. Children can safely take advantage of literacy and STEM programs to strengthen academics, arts programs to foster creativity and self-expression, and sports and recreation programs to stay active.
“We could not support Milwaukee’s youth the way we do without the support of generous community partners like Clarios,” said BGCGM President and CEO Kathy Thornton-Bias. “It’s a particularly challenging time for kids right now as they lack academic support, mentorship and in some cases, access to basic needs like nutrition. Clarios’ generous gift is now helping us meet those needs for kids at 32 sites across our city.”
Clarios will also begin to work with BGCGM on future virtual STEM programming through its Clarios in Action community volunteerism program, recently launched for the company’s more than 16,000 global employees.
About Clarios
Clarios is a world leader in advanced energy storage solutions. We partner with customers to meet increasing market demand for smarter applications, on a global scale. Our 16,000 employees develop, manufacture and distribute a portfolio of evolving battery technologies for virtually every type of vehicle. These technologies deliver uniquely sustainable, next-generation performance, and bring reliability, safety and comfort to everyday lives. We add value at every link in the supply chain, contributing to the progress of the communities we serve and the planet we all share. As a 2020 signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, Clarios is committed to aligning our strategies and operations with universal principles focused on human rights, labor, the environment and anti-corruption. Clarios is a subsidiary of Brookfield Business Partners, a business services and industrials company focused on owning and operating high-quality businesses that benefit from barriers to entry and/or low production costs.
About Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee
Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee (BGCGM) is one of the largest and longest youth-serving agencies in Milwaukee and the largest Boys & Girls Club in the country. With 45 locations in the city of Milwaukee, BGCGM provides youth ages 4-18 with fun, enriching after-school and summer programming including academic support, mentorship, organized athletics, arts, and nutritious meals. Our programs strengthen academic performance, build character, encourage healthy lifestyles, and meet the basic needs of Milwaukee’s youth. More than 80 percent of BGCGM’s annual budget goes toward youth programming. Learn more at www.bgcmilwaukee.org.