CarnAGGIEval benefits Boys and Girls Club
Inflatable toys, games, prizes, pizza, pop and, of course, cotton candy were all part of Friday’s carnival for Aggies and friends.
Hosted in the Fieldhouse by students in a group project for the MHR 3110 class, CarnAGGIEval fulfilled its twofold mission: To provide an activity for students, families and the community to participate in as well as raise funds for the Boys and Girls Club of Cache Valley.
Working in groups of 12 to 14, students had the choice of contributing to an organization or the community. The goal was to make an impact.
This MHR group chose a carnival for the Boys and Girls Club of Cache Valley because they wanted to contribute to the local community and provide a fun activity, said Scott Fugal, a junior majoring in business administration and marketing.
“Choosing the Boys and Girls Club for a cause was a shoe-in,” said Spencer Mann, a senior majoring in biological engineering. “It allowed us to not only earn money for a society benefiting organization, but also allowed us to provide an activity for the Boys and Girls Club as well as the community.”
Mann said the Boys and Girls clubs of America are a legitimate way to get kids off the streets and into a well- supervised environment where they can grow up and give back to society.
“What we’re really talking about here is prevention,” he said.
Prevention programs are cheaper than correction programs. The cost to participate in the Boys and Girls Club is about $200 a year per youth, which is much cheaper compared to $25,000 to $75,000 a year to keep an adult youth in jail, according to the Boys and Girls Club Web site.
“Nearly half of all juvenile crimes occur during weekdays between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” according to the site. “Children are at greater risk of being victims of violent crime in the four hours after the end of the school day, roughly 2 p.m to 6 p.m.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Cache Valley provides aplace for youth in the valley to go after school and on weekends. Over the past three years the local chapter expanded by more than 500 percent with at least 1,200 children registered and participating, said Unit Director Weston Parsons.
“More than 28 million school-age children have parents who work outside the home” according to the Web site.
The funds from CarnAGGIEval will help support more children at this growing center.
The cost is $2 a day or $45 a session although Parsons said no child is ever turned away if they are unable to pay.
Club sites are located at 15 schools in the valley.
Boys and Girls clubs of America began in 1860 in Hartford, Conn. Today 3,300 centers serve more than 3.6 million boys and girls.
Investing in the Boys and Girls Club is investing the future, said Leslie Hofland, a senior majoring in accounting and finance.
“Children are our most important asset. We need to do everything we can to point them in the right direction for the future,” Hofland said.
Businesses were generous toward the Boys and Girls Club of Cache Valley CarnAGGIEval. Wal-Mart, The Factory Pizzeria and Fun Services contributed to the project’s success.
Jeremy Checketts, a senior majoring in marketing and also a Wal-Mart employee, secured a $250 donation from Wal-Mart.
“It’s great Wal-Mart is able to help with different organizations, including the Boys and Girls Club,” said Checketts, who is also helping with Wal-Mart’s upcoming March of Dimes.
Fun Services did not require an upfront fee for the inflatable toys and games and discounted its costs for the event. Fun Services is based in South Jordan, Utah.
“Fun Services’ donation of time and property allowed us to have this event without huge overhead cost. We would not have had as many activities at CarnAGGIEval without Fun Serivces’ generosity,” said James Zeim, a senior majoring in computer engineering.
“The turnout is pretty good considering everything,” said Fugal, referring to Easter weekend and spring break for local public schools.
Besides assisting the Boys and Girls Club monetarily, the event also provided an activity for the boys and girls.
“The biggest benefits that came from CarnAGGIEval is families had the opportunity to spend time together and proceeds contributed to the Boys and Girls Club will spread out over time and benefit ten times as many kids,” Zeim said.
-lindseykay@cc.usu.edu