Sugar and Spice and Everything Green: the Lower Eastside Girls Club
Just imagine: 20,000 square feet of usable space (already amazing for New York City, right?), housed in a building made from environmentally-friendly materials — complete with green roof — and boasting educational, hands-on facilities designed to cultivate eco-leaders of tomorrow. Sound idealistic? Well, the dream is happily scheduled to become a reality for the Lower Eastside Girls Club.

The organization’s current capital campaign includes blueprints for a state-of-the-art ecology and science center, a screening room that will host environmental film programs and festivals, holistic health care facilities, and a green kitchen providing the ability for girls to make and sell healthy, organic foods (a.k.a. “Sweet Things”). Some of these programs/facilities already exist in the current space, but the new building will provide the capacity to conduct programs on a magnified scale — and within the walls of a structure sure to make a powerful statement to the community. Not only does the Girls Club see the importance of doing its part, but it also strives to enable its constituent young women to be environmental leaders. Already, a fair trade curriculum teaches about social ventures around the world, and the science center allows for the exploration of topics important to the planet. Girls can also develop their own video footage about worldly issues they find particularly engaging. (Is there a cool club like this for adults?)

In celebration of the organization’s 10th anniversary, the Lower Eastside Girls Club will be hosting a benefit on October 10th at the Prince George Ballroom — a location that recently underwent its own transformation and now provides assistance to the homeless. None other than legendary organic chef Mary Cleaver (www.thecleaverco.com) will be catering the affair — and if her prior menus are any indication, dessert is bound to be considerably more impressive than a few boxes of Thin Mints and Tagalongs.

For more information: www.girlsclub.org