Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/385222
photography Courtesy of the Boys & girls CluBs (kids) Heir Kraft Josh raft celebrates 25 years serving the boys & girls clubs. by robert cocuzzo PhotograPhy by Ken richardson We've all seen it. Tom Brady throws a touchdown pass. Gillette Stadium goes wild. Then the camera tilts up to the owner's box, where Bob K raft exchanges high-fives with his sons. The K rafts are part of New England folklore, the kind of bootstraps royalty that Bostonians have come to admire: revered but also relatable. "They're good guys," our fathers would say. Yet there's also a sense that the K rafts exist only in that box of luxury, looking down upon the rest of us from a tower built on paper and gridiron. That is, until you meet Josh K raft. K raft f lops into a plastic folding chair in the teen rec room of the Boys & Girls Club in Chelsea, across the Mystic R iver from Boston. He leans back and tries to prop his legs up on an air-hockey table, but the table is too high, so he pulls over another chair. "You want a footrest?" he offers. The third in line to the K raft kingdom, he is the president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston. This building is his baby. Before K raft became the organiza- tion's president in 2008, he spent 15 years here in Chelsea, a tenure that began in the basement of a housing project, where he mentored kids after school. "We had 60 or 70 kids in a room maybe only three times bigger than this one," K raft says. He went on to spear- head the construction of this sprawling facility, the Gerald & Darlene Jordan Boys & Girls Club, and watch two generations of kids pass through it. Cornered in this rec room, K raft stays on message, but his gaze drifts to the windows, where he can see kids playing. "I like to say that the Boys & Girls Club is the story of America," he says. "Every single kid that comes in the door, no matter their economic status, their family status, religion, or physical or mental capabili- ties—they're all afforded the same equal opportunity." For the past three years, K raft has led the charge on a five-year, $125 million comprehensive campaign. Now his labors are beginning to bear fruit, as a A scion of one of Boston's most prominent families, Josh Kraft (far left) has devoted his life to helping kids at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston, such as the Jordan Club in Chelsea (above and left), whose construction he spearheaded. "we want to broaden the boys & girls clubs' reach and deepen our impact on kids." — josh kraft continued on page 74 72 bostoncommon-magazine.com PEOPLE Spirit of Generosity