Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor get organized with help from volunteers

CEDAR RAPIDS — Employees with Involta — an information technology service management company in Cedar Rapids — rolled up their sleeves Thursday to purge, move and organize items for nonprofits at the Sister Mary Lawrence Community Center in downtown Cedar Rapids.

The 50 volunteers focused primarily on supporting the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor, which is a youth development organization for 5- to 18-year-olds with programs to help kids and teens achieve academic success, model good character and citizenship and live healthy lifestyles.

Volunteers cleaned and organized the basement storage spaces at Sister Mary Lawrence Community Center, transforming the space at 420 Sixth St. SE, Cedar Rapids, into a more efficient and functional area for staff of the Boys & Girls Clubs to better serve kids.

The nonprofit community center is named in honor of the former Sister Mary Lawrence Hallagan, one of the most well-known and influential Sisters of Mercy to have lived and worked in Cedar Rapids. She died in 1999.

Beyond providing enterprise IT solutions, the Involta team has a passion for leveraging its time, talents and expertise to help ensure a brighter future for generations to come.

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The volunteer effort occurred as the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor prepares to expand.

In April, the club broke ground on a new building called The Busse Unit that will provide a safe haven for an additional 300 children to be served.

The unit is being constructed at the intersection of Washington Avenue and 16th Street SE, adjacent to First Congregational United Church of Christ, 361 17th St. SE, Cedar Rapids, which has been a site for the Boys & Girls Clubs since 2004. It is expected to open in July 2024.

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