By James Hilepo SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Cities around the world constantly look for ways to keep their kids off the streets and on a path toward safety, stability and success. In Syracuse, many children find that path at the North and West Area Athletic and Education Centers.
Owned by Ray Rinaldi, a former professional boxer and coach for over 50 years, the gym is lined with memories of his dedication to the sport. The walls boast trophies and photos with his former young boxing champions. One even shows Rinaldi and legend Muhammad Ali at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
Most of the kids who participate in Rinaldi’s programs are considered at-risk to join a gang or other violent group in the city, and the center takes care accordingly. Rinaldi believes in his sport’s power to keep the youths away from these kinds of lives.
“We get kids in from eight years old,” Rinaldi explains. “The kids: eight, nine, ten years old like that, you can teach them anything. You can teach them how to say no to the streets.”
The other coaches, like Rinaldi’s nephew, Chris Burns, who is the deputy director, head boxing coach, and GED instructor at the center, buy into that philosophy, and see their efforts as strengthening society.
“To be a member of a community,” Burns believes, “doesn’t just mean where you live. It means looking out for those who are on the bottom rungs of the community and finding out a way to help get them up to where everybody else is, and I learned that from Ray.”
They wants to help as many of those bottom-rungers as they can, a plan which eventually led Rinaldi to pursue purchasing the center’s neighboring building to create space for more kids.
The Syracuse Common Council approved the purchase of the building last Monday. The previous owner owed $103,364 in back taxes. Rinaldi bought the lien for $5,000.
While the building is currently in disrepair and there are concerns over the property’s previous use as a gas station, those at the center expect the efforts to be worth the pain, as the new facility will allow them help more youths like 14-year-old Antwan “Tank” Hunter, who considers the center a special place.
“Because of all the close bonds I have,” Hunter says.” “It’s like my house. Everybody in here is my family.”
