BOYNTON BEACH — Boynton Beach High School juniors and seniors volunteered their time Tuesday to help Habitat for Humanity build homes in Ocean Breeze West.
As part of a new Play It Forward program, the Boynton Beach Police Department will give money to the school’s athletic fund as long as the sports players volunteer in the community.
The department will donate up to $15,000.
“Judging by how many students were out there today and just hearing them talk about it, they’re excited about the program,” said Stephanie Slater, the police department’s spokeswoman. “They’re thankful and appreciative.”
The amount of money the department spends is up to the students. If a student has a 3.5 GPA, police will hand over $3.5 for every hour the athlete works. The student is responsible for keeping track of the hours. At the end of each quarter, the police will ask permission from the City Commission to write a check from seized money to help pay for school athletic programs.
“We’re providing the foundation for it … but it’s really up to them to take it as far as they want to take it,” Slater said.
The Boynton students who volunteered Tuesday were girls and boys from the football, basketball and track teams.
“We’re really out here just giving back to our community. They showed a lot of support to us during our season so it’s only right to come out here and help build homes and do whatever they want us to do,” said Galvan, 17.
“You always want to have some very supportive fans on your side. You never want to go to a game and it’s just you out there,” Galvan said. “It’s really special to have our crowd out there rooting us on even when we’re losing, they’re still out there being great fans so the least we could do is give back to our community.
Boynton Beach Police Chief Jeffrey Katz thought of the program, which is a partnership between the police, the school, Habitat and the Boynton Beach Wildcat program. Students started volunteering a few weeks ago.
“It’s very helpful especially during the summer we have a really hard time getting volunteers out. It really fills a need for us,” said Julia Rowe, Habitat’s volunteer engagement director. “Students that are working on homes in their own community is really great to see.”
One of the homes will be dedicated to a family this month and the second home will be the last of 16 homes for Habitat to finish in Ocean Breeze West.
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