BERLIN – A $10,000 grant is expected to help bring lights to the basketball courts at Henry Park.
TCC, a nationwide Verizon retailer, presented the local nonprofit We Heart Berlin with a $10,000 donation toward lights for Henry Park last week. While the town has applied for a grant that would fund the majority of the project, We Heart Berlin wanted to do what it could to ensure the basketball courts get the same lighting the tennis courts have had for years.
“To me it is simple,” said Tony Weeg, founder of We Heart Berlin. “Basketball is enjoyed at night just as much as tennis, it’s just that basketball hasn’t had the same voice in the town council meetings as tennis, and with that in mind I knew we—We Heart Berlin—could help. Since we are a conduit for community and grant funding to the Town of Berlin we feel it is our duty to collect those funds and use them to help our parks, especially where inequities exist.”
Through a corporate giving program, TCC provides $250,000 in grants to nonprofits throughout the country each quarter. TCC employee Jeron Whaley, a Berlin native, sponsored the grant application We Heart Berlin submitted for lights at Henry Park after seeing the excitement surrounding the mural added to the courts last fall. Company representatives visited Berlin last week to present a check. Weeg is hoping that $10,000 will supplement funding the town receives through the Community Parks and Playgrounds funding program. Town officials expect to find out in late summer if the grant application was successful.
“We have an MOU with the town coming soon,” Weeg said, “and we will disperse those funds to the town once the project moves forward.”
