On Wednesday August 8th the NYC Cops & Kids Boxing Club opened a new fitness center at the Berry Homes in the Dongan Hills area of Staten Island. A ribbon cutting ceremony took place to official open the the new fitness, which center doubled the space of the gym. The gym features treadmills, bicycles, weight-training equipment, and boxing equipment.

In attendance were NYC Cops & Kids Director retired NYPD Sgt. Pat Russo, Assemblyman Michael Cusick, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, NYCHA Chairman Gregory Russ, and NYPD Chief of Patrol Jeffrey Maddrey. The new fitness center will be a place for kids in the Berry Homes and in the neighborhood to have a safe space exercise and be a kid. The NYC Cops & Kids Boxing Club is a privately funded, free youth mentoring and boxing program for kids aged 12-21.

The fitness center’s boxing coaches are all Auxiliary Police Officers, which is the NYPD’s volunteer police program. These positive interactions between members of the NYPD and the youth builds the relationship between the community and NYPD Officers.

NYCHA provides the space rent-free, and the gym is free for kids up to age 21. The eight-year-old Dongan Hills boxing program attracts about 200 participants, with 40 to 50 showing up daily. 

On September 10th, multiple NYC agencies will duke it out at  The First Responders Unite for FIGHT NIGHT that will take place at the Ferry Hawks stadium on Staten Island. Proceeds from the match will benefit The Tunnel to Towers Foundation and NYC Cops & Kids. Gates will open at 3PM for a weigh in, and the first fight is scheduled for 6PM. The event will also be live streamed. 

The donation will benefit Tunnel to Towers’ In the Line of Duty Program which provides mortgage free homes to our nation’s catastrophically injured veterans and first responders, mortgage free homes to Gold Star families and Fallen First Responder families with young children, and mortgage-free comfort homes for homeless veterans through our Veteran Homelessness program.