I. NEED FOR BOATHOUSE
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE HARRY PARKER BOATHOUSE
III. MAKE A GIFT TO THE CAMPAIGN
IV. NOTEWORTHY EVENTS OF THE HARRY PARKER BOATHOUSE
I. NEED FOR THE BOATHOUSE
The Community Rowing (CRI) “Boathouse For All Campaign” provides an extraordinary opportunity to invest in one of the most outstanding projects in the history of the Charles River. Built on 3.5 acres on the banks of the Charles River in Brighton, Massachusetts, CRI boathouse is keeping the river open to the public and offers a variety of rowing opportunities to thousands of individuals each year.
Community Rowing and the Greater Boston rowing community are supporting this project to ensure that rowing on the Charles River remains available to the public. After 20 years of providing exceptional rowing programs to the public from the Daly Skating Rink in Newton, CRI has built an award-winning, and environmentally friendly 30,000 square foot facility that annually will serve more than 1500 rowers.
Presently, 40% of all rowing programs on the Charles are housed or operated by Community Rowing, yet for more than 20 years CRI was the only organization without a permanent facility. Investing in CRI’s Boathouse for All Campaign is a once in a life time opportunity that will insure the Charles River remains open to the public and that the sport of rowing continues to impact and empower people’s lives.
The successful completion of the new CRI boathouse has provided the infrastructure and accessibility needed to strengthen current programs and build new ones-truly realizing CRI’s mission of providing “rowing for all”. Should a new boathouse not have been built CRI’s current member base and future generations of both traditional and non-traditional rowers would be locked out of rowing and learning to row on the Charles River forever.
Why should the philanthropic community invest in this effort to build a state of the art facility dedicated to public rowing? There are two overarching reasons:
1) Community Rowing offers exceptional programming for underserved populations. In addition to its highly respected fee-based programs for youth and adults, CRI offers several outstanding programs for individuals who would otherwise not have access to the sport of rowing under any other circumstances. These programs serve more than 600 people annually and are offered at no cost to participants. Program Examples include:
G-ROW BOSTON — (Girls-Row) is a model youth development program that each year reaches 200 girls from the Boston public schools. G-ROW combines rigorous after-school rowing with relationship-building, leadership development and academic support. In addition to teaching the girls how to row and ultimately compete in regattas across New England, the program offers academic support such as after school tutoring, tours of college campuses, and enrollment in Bottom Line, a non-profit that assists the girls to fill out college and financial aid applications. Demonstrating CRI’s commitment to its G-ROW Boston Program, a classroom was built in the new boathouse for the girls to receive homework help and tutoring.
Adaptive — For 20 years, CRI has been providing adaptive equipment and dedicated volunteer support to hundreds of youth and adults with disabilities so they too may safely learn to row. The most notable of these programs is CRI’s partnership with the Perkins School for the Blind, which for the past 10 years, has introduced visually impaired students to the rhythms and rigors of the sport. The new boathouse and surrounding grounds have been fully outfitted for visually and physically challenged users, enabling us to significantly enhance our adaptive programming and accommodate individuals who cannot currently access the river.
Summer Outreach — Each summer, CRI offers free introductory rowing programs for low-income youth and children with physical and intellectual challenges. By partnering with the Boston Centers for Youth and Families and local special needs programs, CRI offers groups of children the opportunity to explore the Charles River under the expert guidance of CRI’s highly trained coaches. Since opening the new boathouse CRI has been able to expand its outreach activities, to include youth from the area such as The West End House Boys and Girls Club of Allston-Brighton, the Oak Square YMCA in Brighton as well as the Commonwealth Tenants Association.
2) CRI’s new boathouse has dramatically enhanced the public parkland along the Charles River – aesthetically, environmentally, and for its users. The Charles River is a treasure, and it is under-utilized and under-appreciated along the upper banks where the new boathouse has been built. The CRI boathouse site has transformed a forgotten stretch of river into a thriving destination for park users. CRI’s new boathouse has been designed to complement and reflect the river on which it sits. Successful completion of the boathouse has aesthetically enhanced the area and benefit the neighboring community by:
• Revitalizing an underused and unsightly portion of the riverbank into a destination spot for the general public to row and enjoy all of the pleasures the Charles River has to offer.
• Providing a publicly accessible rest and recreation area for park users, which respects the beauty of the river while enhancing and protecting the waterfront.
• Redistributing traffic along the riverfront. By providing a draw in the Allston/Brighton area of the river, shifting users up-river and away from the over used areas in the city;
• Providing a community room overlooking the river for public events and functions.
II. DESCRIPTION OF THE HARRY PARKER BOATHOUSE
Harry Parker Biographical Information
Mr. Parker is a 1957 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and while an undergraduate was part of the Penn Eight that won the 1955 Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. In addition, Harry was the US single sculls champion in 1959 and 1960, won the Pan American Games in 1959 and was 5th in the Rome Olympics in 1960.
In 1963, Mr. Parker accepted the position of Men’s Varsity Head Coach for Harvard and forty-five years later continues there at the helm. Having coached six Olympic Teams (1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984), and having won more than twelve national championships, Harry is one of the most successful coaches of all time.
Making Harvard facilities available to fledgling programs such as Community Rowing in 1985, Harry Parker has continually demonstrated a long history of supporting the expansion of rowing. He also was instrumental in supporting women’s rowing at Harvard/Radcliffe in 1971 and on the national team level, coaching the first women’s national teams in 1975 and 1976. Mr. Parker is the only person to have been an Olympic Coach for both men’s and women’s crews.
About the Boathouse
The Harry Parker Boathouse is a 30,000 sq. ft. facility located along the banks of the Charles River in Brighton, MA. It is fully dedicated to public access rowing and features a sculling pavilion, space for 170 rowing shells, lockers, showers, weight room and training space. The boathouse has also been designed to include a classroom for CRI’s G-ROW (Girls Row) Boston program, a leading after-school rowing and academic support program for 200 girls living in Boston’s inner city.
- Environmentally Sustainable Features in New Boathouse
CRI’s Harry Parker Boathouse is a sustainable building that conserves energy and natural resources, reduces operating costs and enhances the functionality and comfort of the facility. The “green building” design elements include: green roof ready, geothermal heating and cooling, natural ventilation, daylight harvesting and efficient light design and maximized open space. Click here for details of building’s green features.
- Architectural Awards Anmahian Winton Architects, Inc. (AWA) of Cambridge, MA, designed Community Rowing’s Harry Parker Boathouse. AWA has been awarded two impressive honors for the facility’s unique design. Architect Magazine bestowed the firm with the prestigious “P/A Award” for its smart and progressive design and The Chicago Atheneum Museum of Architecture and Design presented “The American Architecture Award for 2008″ to AWA for the building’s cutting edge characteristics.
- Images of Boathouse Click Here. (Coming Soon!)
III. GIVING OPPORTUNITIES
Community Rowing respectfully invites you to review the below naming opportunities and support CRI’s efforts to build the only boathouse on the Charles River dedicated to public access and the sport of rowing. We offer a variety of individual, family, team, and corporate giving opportunities to help our members and donors commit to this historical project.
Click here for a PDF of a list of naming opportunities.
CONTACT THE CAMPAIGN
If you would like to request additional campaign materials, have any questions or would like to make a gift to the campaign please contact Maura Walsh Hammer, Director of Development at 617.923.7561 or by email at maura@communityrowing.
Campaign Donations made by written out to: Community Rowing, Inc. and mailed to: Community Rowing, Harry Parker Boathouse, 20 Nonantum Road, Brighton, MA 02135
You may also DONATE NOW online.
IV. NOTEWORTHY CAMPAIGN EVENTS
· January 2006—CRI launches public phase of its $16M “Boathouse for All Campaign.”
· May 2006—Dick and Lisa Cashin offer $3 million lead gift to CRI’s Boathouse for All Campaign.
· September 2006—Anonymous Foundation awards $1 million capital grant for the construction of green building features throughout the boathouse and pedestrian path along the riverway.
· January 2007—Executive Office of Environmental Affairs’ (EOEA) Office of Public and Private Partenerships (OPP) awards $100,000 grant to build handicapped accessible docks.
· April 2007—Campaign reaches $10 million mark from 500+ donors.
· July 2007—Boston Globe publishes article: “Project to Bring Rowing to Public.”
· July 2007—Rowing News publishes article: “A Community Effort.”
· May 22, 2007—CRI hosts Groundbreaking Ceremony for its new boathouse. (Click here for photos.)
· January 1, 2008—Anmahian Winton Architects (AWA) receive the P/A Award for their smart and progressive design of CRI’s boathouse. (Click here for details.)
· March 2008—CRI ceases operation from the Daly Rink and hosts its last work party to set up for spring and summer programming in the Daly field and parking lot.
· May 2008—CRI posts YouTube fundraising video of CRI’s Boathouse for All Campaign (Click here to watch video.)
· June 2008—Jane’s Trust awards $100,000 capital grant in support of G-ROW Boston.
· July 2008—State Street Foundation awards $75,000 capital grant in support of G-ROW Boston.
· July 2008—Lead Donors Dick and Lisa Cashin along with Community Rowing announce the boathouse will be named after legendary Harvard Rowing Coach, Harry Parker.
· July 2008—Consigli Contruction leads tour of construction site for Campaign Steering Committee and CRI Board of Directors.
· August 2008—Anmahian Winton Architects (AWA) receive the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, 2008 Award for Architecture.
· September 2008—CRI receives occupancy permit for the Harry Parker Boathouse from City of Boston.
· September 2008—CRI’s Boathouse for All Campaign reaches $14,700,000 towards $16 million goal.
· September 2008—CRI hosts first work party at the Harry Parker Boathouse to move staff and equipment into the new facility.
· September 2008—The Harvard Crimson publishes announcement that CRI’s new Boathouse will be named after Harry Parker. (Click here to read article.)
· October 2008—CRI hosts Campaign Leadership Dinner Event. (Click here for photos.)
· October 2008—CRI hosts Boathouse Dedication Ceremony. (Click here for photos.)
· October 2008—Boston Globe publishes article: “Dedication for the Dedicated.”
· October 2008—WBZ-TV airs news story of the Opening of CRI’s Harry Parker Boathouse.
· November 2008—New Balance Awards $200,000 Capital Grant in support of G-ROW Boston.
· December 2008—Boston Globe publishes article: “Boathouse is a Model of Form and Function.”
· January 2009—Allston-Brighton Tab publishes article: “Top 10 Newstories for 2008”
