ROCHESTER, N.Y. – One of the greatest basketball players to come out of Rochester is making one of the great donations to Rochester. Isaiah Stewart, who now plays for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA, just donated $750,000 to renovate the basketball court at the Boys and Girls Club where he learned to play. But more than that, the money is also going to the club’s reading program, where hundreds of children come to work on their reading.

“Every kid in Rochester should be reading at grade level and when I heard that wasn’t the case, I was all on board to get behind,” said Isaiah Stewart, a forward with the Detroit Pistons.

News10NBC’s Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean talked with Stewart before practice Jan. 24, along with Dwayne Mahoney, the director of the Boys and Girls Club.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “Isaiah, you’ve made it into the greatest basketball league in the world. And that took not just skill but stuff in your heart and your head and your whole body. If there’s one thing that you’ve got in your head and your body that you could give to the boys and girls at the Boys and Girls Club, what would you give them?”

Isaiah Stewart: “I’d say I’d give them determination and fight. You know obviously being an inner city kid and growing up in the conditions and the environment I grew up in, that’s one thing that was instilled in me as a young kid.”

Dwayne Mahoney, Executive Director, Boys and Girls Club: “I don’t know if Isaiah realizes what weight his name carries here in Rochester.”

Stewart came to the club in the summer.

Berkeley Brean: “Dwayne, what is Isaiah’s money going to do for the boys and girls there?”

Dwayne Mahoney: “Our gym hasn’t been renovated in, geez, 15 or 20 years. This gym will take on the reflection of Isaiah.”

The money will also go toward the reading program.

Dwayne Mahoney: “We’re running it with about 250 kids. We’d like to see 25,000 kids reading and testing everyday.”

This is quick work. The renovation at the Boys and Girls Club is set to be done in the summer. From Isaiah’s donation, $250,000 is going to the club’s reading program. It’s mandatory for members, and membership is just $11 a year. If you want to get your child in that program, go to the club on Genesee Street and sign them up.

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