New York Yankee CC Sabathia Cleans Up Hoboken Boys & Girls Club

The scene at the Boys & Girls Club on Saturday was quite different from the week before. All because of a few special volunteers.

New York Yankee CC Sabathia — together with his wife Amber, his son CC Sabathia III and other friends — helped the Hoboken Boys & Girls club re-paint its first floor cafeteria.

Sabathia’s good friend and former New York Giant Tiki Barber, also stopped by to survey the damage.

“I grew up in a Boys & Girls Club.” Sabathia, who is a New Jersey resident, said on Saturday. “This is the first place I wanted to come.

Sabathia then grabbed a paint roller and went to work with his son, while still greeting fans and Boys & Girls Club members.

The PitCCh In Challenge — Sabathia’s charity organization — was supposed to have its annual event on Saturday. But, said Amber Sabathia, “we squashed it because there are other things to be done.”

Saturday marked Sabathia’s first ever visit to Hoboken. Before arriving at the Boys & Girls Club at 11 a.m., he handed out canned food in the Hoboken Housing Authority.

Last week Executive Director Gary Greenberg and teacher Yvette Miles were close to tears, looking at the damage caused by Sandy.

“A week ago, a lot of people were crying,” Greenberg said. “We thought that the Boys & Girls Club got ruined for ever.”

“This,” Greenberg continued to the sound of applause of those in attendance, “is the start of the rebuilding of the Hoboken Boys & Girls Club.”

Barber, who stopped by together with his wife, said he had heard about the damage to the Boys & Girls club and that it was “devastating.”

Jaliah, a 16-year-old member of the Hoboken Boys & Girls Club since the summer, said walking into the building and seeing the damage was “horrible.”

On Saturday, the smile had also returned to Miles' face.

“This is awesome,” she said. And for the first time since Sandy hit the club, she didn’t notice the lack of heat. “It got about 10 degrees hotter in here when  [CC] walked in.”