Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Unveils Multisport Field at the Home Club on the Sheth Family Campus of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area

New field in East Austin to provide Club youth with Boys & Girls Club of the Austin Area with a safe place to learn, play and compete

Austin, TX - The Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation and Group1001 today joined the Boys & Girls Club of the Austin Area (BGCAA) to unveil a multisport playing field on BGCAA’s Home Club on the Sheth Family Campus that will provide youth who need us most in East Austin with a safe place to learn, play and compete.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included Cal Ripken, Jr., Baseball Hall of Famer and Ripken Foundation vice-chairman; Misti Potter, CEO of BGCAA; Michael Carroll, Chairman of Don Ross Nabb Productions and Steve Salem, president and CEO of the Ripken Foundation.

“Today is an exciting day for the kids and local Austin community, which is why we’re so proud to be a part of this special project,” said Ripken. “Thanks to the incredible support of Dan Towriss and Group1001, the Boys & Girls Club and the Sheth family, a new generation will benefit from the positive impact of sports both on the field and in the game of life.”

Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation Fields at BGCAA’s Home Club was made possible thanks in part to a generous $5 million donation to the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation from Towriss and Group1001, used to build a total of ten Youth Development Parks over five years in 10 cities across the country. Each field will receive funding from Group1001 and will support the Ripken Foundation’s MLB RBI (Reviving Baseball in the Inner City) partnership, designed to provide baseball and softball league-play for underserved youth, as well as other youth serving organizations.

“Our commitment to making a meaningful impact and empowering local communities remains central to our mission,” said Dan Towriss. “We are grateful to help bring this field to life and enhance the positive experience that the kids of Austin will be proud to call home for many years to come.”

The multisport playing field is lined for youth baseball/softball and soccer. The facility includes a synthetic turf baseball infield and natural grass outfield and soccer field. It is complete with a digital scoreboard, backstop, dugouts and fencing. BGCAA will manage and maintain the field and work closely with the Ripken Foundation to create programs to engage at-risk young people. The programs will address a variety of youth development needs, which include character development, health and physical education, and culture and history.

Don Ross Nabb Productions, a national special-event-centered company with over 40 years of event production and planning behind them, also stepped up to the plate to provide support for the youth baseball programs that will be hosted at BGCAA’s Home Club and played on the fields built by the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation.

“Athletics play an important role in the lives of Boys & Girls Club youth. The lessons they learn on the field are important in helping these kids build great futures beyond it, among them team work, integrity and the importance of having a healthy lifestyle,” said Potter. “We are truly honored and grateful to the Ripken Foundation, Group1001 and Don Ross Nabb Productions for their generosity in making this multisport field possible—for creating this wonderful amenity and for supporting valuable programming for our Club kids and the surrounding community.”

Established in Austin in 1967, BGCAA is the city’s  leading out-of-school time youth development agency, currently serving more than 8,200 registered members and engaging more than 12,700 children annually ages 6 to 18 at 35 locations in Travis and Bastrop Counties, including the Home Club on the Sheth Family Campus. BGCAA’s programs fill kids’ empty, unsupervised hours with academic support, leadership and healthy living skills, meals, physical activity, positive adult role models and social connections with peers—giving them a place to belong, succeed and develop essential skills to thrive in school, work and life. On average, Boys & Girls Club youth have higher school attendance, grades, graduation rates and college enrollment than their peers.

To date, the Ripken Foundation has completed 84 multipurpose synthetic turf Youth Development Parks in 22 states and Washington D.C., including four completed parks throughout the state of Texas.

About the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation

For the last 18 years, the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation has worked tirelessly to implement youth development programs and create parks that directly address the problems facing at-risk youth in distressed communities across the country. Inspired by one of the most iconic baseball families, the Ripkens created the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to honor the legacy of its family patriarch, longtime coach, and mentor, Cal Ripken, Sr. The Ripken Foundation uses sports-themed activities to bring police officers, youth partners and underserved kids ages 9 – 14 together on a level playing field to learn invaluable life skills.

The Ripken Foundation’s Youth Development Park Initiative creates clean, safe places for kids to play on multipurpose, synthetic surface fields that promote healthy living in an outdoor recreational facility. Since 2009, the Ripken Foundation has 84 completed parks across the country in 22 states.  In 2018, the Ripken Foundation impacted over 1.5 million kids nationwide through its Youth Development Park and mentor programs. For more information, visit WWW.RIPKENFOUNDATION.ORG. Follow @CalRipkenSrFdn on FACEBOOK, TWITTER and INSTAGRAM.

About Group1001

Group1001 is a customer-centric insurance holding company with combined assets under management of approximately $36 billion as of September 30, 2018. We are reimagining the insurance industry experience in ways that empower people financially and help them live better lives.  Our mission as a group is to make insurance more useful, intuitive and accessible so everyone can get the most value from their money.

Group1001 believes education and sports have the power to transform communities. We partner with Fields & Futures and the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation to revitalize sports fields in communities across the country, to provide safe and nurturing spaces for young people in the communities we serve.  Group1001 also sponsors the POWER OF SPORTS, which celebrates powerful stories of people and organizations connecting through sports while driving positive social change for children and communities across the U.S.

For more information about Group1001, please visit us at GROUP1001.COM.

About Don Ross Nabb Production Companies

Don Ross Nabb Production Companies (DRN, Inc.) is a national special-event-centered company with over 40 years of event production and planning experience. Maintaining a prop-and-décor warehouse, DRN, Inc. offers event rentals, destination-management services, convention design, full-service catering, on- and off-site event venues and show business studios for TV and movie set design and production. The company also recently expanded into full-service restaurants and cigar lounges across the country. DRN, Inc. is dedicated to supporting youth, helping them develop their leadership skills through the fields of hospitality and service. All branches of DRN, Inc. maintain an emphasis on teamwork, believing that sports give youth opportunities to hone their individual and team skills, which in turn teach them how to be leaders and empower them to become the next generation of entrepreneurs. For more information, visit SHOWBUSINESSSTUDIOS.COM.

Contact

Group1001: LOUISE THACH