Check out this story from Get Marty contributor Anne Linaberger. In the video on this page, Anne is taking you to the site of retired Steeler Charlie Batch's new home for his Best of the Batch Foundation and the exciting youth center that's nearing completion.
When retired Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch founded his Best of the Batch Foundation 22 years ago, he never dreamed that decades later, the foundation would be building a youth center, the likes of which his hometown of Homestead, PA has never seen. “What you see now is something we never envisioned when we first started these conversations,” said Batch when we visited recently.
The 33-thousand square foot, 10-million dollar Best of the Batch Clubhouse will link the Foundation’s current headquarters (a house they turned into an educational center) with a spectacular and colorful new building that stretches almost the entire block. The Clubhouse has every amenity you can think of, including a huge gymnasium.
But it won’t be all fun and games. We’re an educational foundation and focus on reading and computer literacy,” first and foremost said Batch. That won’t change, which is why classrooms, a Science Technology Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) lab and computer lab are built in.
Excitement is building in the community now that construction is almost complete. “We’re nervous but yet you’re excited at the same time,” admitted Batch. “The kids are getting excited asking when can use the gym, the dance studio, use the STEAM lab.” (see more artist renderings here)
The Best of the Batch Youth Foundation and its work is a tribute to Batch’s sister Danyl Settles, who was murdered in 2016 at age 17, the innocent victim of a gang-related shooting. The foundation’s current building – and the new Clubhouse are on West Street, the same street where Charlie and Danyl grew up, and the same street where Danyl was killed. From the roof of the new building you can see Homestead Cemetery, where she is buried.
Batch’s goal when he started the foundation was to provide a place for children in his old neighborhood (who weren’t even born when Danyl was murdered) a place where they could be safe, learn, and stay out of trouble. “I never want another family to feel the way that we did,” said Batch.
The Foundation is still trying to raise the last of the money needed to finish the Clubhouse.
You can donate here, or if you’d like to volunteer, click here.