Foster children benefit from comedy
Out of the Blue Entertainment group had spectators laughing during a charity event for foster children Friday.
USU’s Center for the School of the Future sponsored the event as a way to raise money in support of all the foster children in Cache Valley. Along with admission was a guarantee to “laugh your head off,” according to the event’s advertisements, and a ticket to enter a drawing for gift cards and prizes donated by local businesses.
While no heads came off, some toes and fingers were at risk during the evening as the troupe performed an act called “mouse trap.” This entailed being barefoot and blindfolded in the center of randomly placed, set mouse traps and being told to act out an action. In this case, the audience delivered the action of ballroom dancing, then stretched to watch the comedians attempt to dance around, avoiding the mouse trap mines.
“I have a sore throat from laughing so much,” said Blaire Nelson, one of the event’s coordinators.
After wind ruined a previous fundraising event, Nelson expressed her relief that the second event ran smoothly.
“Everyone was generous and we are grateful to our sponsors,” she said.
Proceeds from the night went to the Cache Valley Foster Care Resource Center. The Center provides foster parents with resources they need when hosting an infant, child, or teen. This includes furniture, clothes, and toys to help supply foster parents with the specific needs of each child that enters their home.
According to utahfostercare.org, the average stay of a foster child ranges from 9-12 months, although depending on the situation, can also be weeks, months, or years. In the state of Utah alone, there are an average of 2,700 children in the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) custody. The DCFS reports about 1,200 more children coming in each year.
Nelson is a VISTA, or Volunteer In Service To America, and is part of the group Americorps. The group is dedicated to serving at a national and local level. This particular group staffed in Logan works through through the School of the Future assisting the school with its various projects. Nelson said that in Cache County, there are about 40 foster families with an average of one to three kids placed in each home, and about 100 foster kids total.
Fellow VISTA Karrie Freeman knew the men in Out of the Blue Entertainment and asked them to participate in the event, Freeman said.
No strangers to Logan, comedians Ammon Stevenson, Derek Myler, Jordan Brown, and Kamron Klitgaard, said they were “happy to help out” and performed a variety of acts throughout the evening. This included a hoe-down, a gibberish murder mystery, some stand-up comedy, and even solving an equation devised by the audience.
“It was hilarious when they deduced that three divided by an infinity of Paris Hiltons equaled Hell,” said audience member Todd Labrum.
Though they perform in Logan often, the group has opted for a more permanent location and will be debuting a weekly show Friday evenings at Firehouse Pizzeria.
Nelson said even though this event was a back-up plan, to make “any money was good.”
– jessie.a.sweat@aggiemail.usu.edu