Above: Chelsea Clinton poses this month with a young Detroit boxer identified as LaVan by the gym in this Facebook photo.
Boxing coach Khali Sweeney is making a difference in the east-side Detroit neighborhood where he grew up, as NBC News correspondent Chelsea Clinton will tell viewers soon in a follow-up to her segment on the Downtown Boxing Gym last March (video below).
Chelsea Clinton visits the proposed new gym site with archietct Jim Ryan (cenbter) and coach Khali Sweeney. (Facebook photo)
The presidential daughter-turned-journalist came back this month to hear about expanded support since spring for Sweeney's nonprofit athletic and tutoring program on St. Aubin for youths 7-18. She'll describe a fundraising drive to erect a $500,000 replacement to give more kids "a fighting chance," as the gym says online.
"The story will air sometime between Christmas and New Year's Day," the gym posts with a Facebook album of 45 photos showing the TV crew's mid-December return.
“It’s great to get this recognition,” the coach and founder says in a news release. “The kids deserve the exposure.
They are the most dedicated group of people I’ve ever known.”
In addition to interviewing young participants, Clinton met architect Jim Ryan and construction executive Todd Sachse of Sachse Construction in Birmingham, who support the proposed new facility. The suburban builder is contributing $50,000 to the project because the gym exceeded its matching grant challenge by this month, according to a news release sent Saturday to Deadline Detroit.
"Serving 65 students with more than 150 Detroit children on a waiting list, the organization has outgrown the current location and needs to expand," the statement adds.
The nonprofit has raised nearly $138,000 so far, including a contribution from Quicken Loans and $14,360 from an IndieGoGo campaign this fall. The first video below was posted there. The other two are from Clinton's March 8 coverage.
