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Lewiston, ID-- Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer and Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories are teaming up to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley. Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer have donated $2.2 million and SEL pledged $1 million to the capital campaign to design and renovate part of the former Lewiston High School Campus that the Clubs purchased in early 2021.  These gifts will be instrumental in breathing new life into the building known as Booth Hall and increase the amount of youth the Club serves.

“We are completely humbled and honored to receive such amazing gifts to our Clubs, our kids, and our community,” says Brad Rice, President of the Clubs Board of Directors.  “Our organization has been in the silent phase of our capital campaign for the past 14 months, and gifts of this magnitude open the doors to some amazing possibilities for what we can do in that old building.”

"We were inspired by the Clubs’ vision for this new space as well as the positive impact they have on so many young people in the LC Valley. Ed and I are honored to help support the work they do,” said Beatriz Schweitzer. 

“The ability for us to work with Ed and Beatriz and the folks from SEL holds a special place for us, as they are a company who prides themselves on many of the same values that we do at the Boys & Girls Clubs,” says Jon Evans, Executive Director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lewis Clark Valley.  “To be supported by folks who place such a high value on things such as creativity, integrity and community makes this gift even more special.”

The Clubs have retained the services of LKV Architects who will begin with design and construction plans immediately.  “LKV has a great working knowledge of that facility, given a lot of the previous work that they had done with the school district, so this helps us speed up the design process a lot due to their familiarity with the property,” says Rice.  “We hope to have designs ready and to be out to bid for construction sometime later this summer.”

In the meantime, the Clubs have been at work converting the old wood shop into a Club space that should be ready to open in the fall, which will reestablish the Clubs’ presence in the Normal Hill neighborhood for a few years while they get the renovations done in the main building. 

"We applaud the outstanding work the Boys & Girls Clubs of the LC Valley does. SEL is excited to help expand their footprint and ability to serve more families and kids," SEL CEO Dave Whitehead.