LACKAWANNA, N.Y. — As a coach, Kevin Pagliei invests in little futures year-round, and on Wednesday, it was someone else's turn.
"All of the organizations work really hard to put out a good product for our kids and any help you can get is huge, absolutely huge," said Pageliei, coach for Lackawanna Little Loop Football.
New York State Assemblyman Pat Burke joined local leaders at the Lackawanna Little Loop Football and Lackawanna Legends youth baseball complex to present a check of $400,000.
"Mayor Iafallo and the city council, they brought this to my attention and we were able to secure $400,000," Burke said.
The new funding will go toward improving the youth sports complex at Van Wyck Fields. That's an additional amount of money on top of the initial funding that went towards improvements unveiled Wednesday. That included a touched-up field, parking lot, and even a new dog park.
"Parents are pleased with the way the fields look, and we've spent a lot of time and money, and obviously with this money that we just received, to go toward equipment and our parking lot," said Jennifer Nahrebesky, president of Lackawanna Legends Youth Baseball.
Pagliei added: "I've got kids in this organization, I've played with their grandparents, and my father has been coaching since the start so it's a big family thing."
That new funding will keep his dad's namesake field thriving for generations.