The LaRosa Boys and Girls Club of McKeesport just got a $400,000 donation from the Allegheny Foundation to build an open-air sports pavilion.

But the benefits of the project go beyond sports, club officials say.

"Sports brings them in, but the club also offers math and reading tutoring, computer labs, arts and crafts and much more," said executive director Tom Maglicco.

Mike Hepler, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, said expanded activities at its LaRosa Club help to keep kids safe.

"Street corners always compete with our clubs; this sports complex will provide a healthy alternative to high-risk behavior," he said.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the pavilion, located on the club site at 901 Ravine St., was held June 25. An open house will be later this summer.

The pavilion will be home to indoor soccer, dekhockey, baseball clinics and mobile girls' softball and boys' baseball pitching machines.

Gym classes also will be held there, such as the Highmark/Blue Cross/Blue Shield "Sports, Play and Active Recreation for Kids," which fights juvenile obesity.

Since 1954, the Allegheny Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based philanthropic organization endowed by Richard Mellon Scaife, has given more than $1.4 million to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania.

Its nine clubs are in Mc- Keesport, Duquesne, West Mifflin, Wilkinsburg, Shadyside/East Liberty, Lawrenceville, McKees Rocks, Carnegie and Millvale.

The LaRosa club was founded in 1945 as the McKeesport Boys Club by resident Samuel R. LaRosa. His childhood bout with polio, which kept him from participating in rigorous sports, resulted in his commitment to start a club where children would be provided the opportunity to enjoy life.

In 1970, the club merged with other local clubs to form the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania.

In 1995, as the club celebrated its 50th anniversary, the name was changed to the LaRosa Boys and Girls Club of McKeesport in honor of Mr. LaRosa's lifelong involvement promoting and raising funds for the club.

Today, the club has a membership of 718 youngsters, ages 51/2 to 18 who live in McKeesport, Glassport, Port Vue and surrounding towns.

Financing is from donations and fundraisers, with most sports programs funded by Dapper Dan Charities.

Anyone can join. The annual fee is $30, and low-income scholarships are available.

Izamarri Griffin, 12, of West Mifflin, said she likes that the new pavilion in which she plays soccer and hopscotch is "outside, with lots of sunlight."

In her case, it is the draw Mr. Maglicco hoped it would be as she plans to start after-school tutoring in the fall.

For more information, call 412-678-7070.