Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri to hold family-focused holiday fundraiser

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Wednesday, November 24, 2021 ~ Updated 11:00 PM

A worker with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri talks with a student in this October 2021 photo.
Aaron Eisenhauer ~ B Magazine

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri plan to spread holiday cheer to children and adults in the region — and raise some much needed funds — with its upcoming holiday events.

The fundraiser will consist of two separate holiday-themed gatherings on Dec. 11 at the Osage Center in Cape Girardeau.

As part of the national organization, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri provides an afterschool program for area youth, assisting students with homework among other academic and social development.

Allen Treece, director of Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri.
Aaron Eisenhauer ~ B Magazine

Director of the clubs Allen Treece told B Magazine the morning event is free and open to the public. It will be more children- and family-oriented with stations featuring a variety of activities, including pictures with Santa Claus, storytime readings of Christmas stories, holiday treats and gift bags.

“I think Santa’s definitely going to be the star of the show in the morning, and then we will twist things around a bit for the evening event, but still keeping that Christmas theme and just making it a fun, enjoyable holiday event for everyone,” he said.

The morning event is set for 8 a.m. to noon.

Treece said the evening event, which is scheduled to start at 6 p.m., will be a more “donor-centric” holiday party and include corporate tables, a live auction, live music and food and beverages. Tickets to attend will be sold in advance.

“We’ll provide new and repeat donors in the community with a little bit of information and updates about our organization and thank them for their support, but we’re really trying to keep it casual and just trying to bring everybody back together to have a good evening and hopefully raise money for the clubs,” Treece said.

Kids talk at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri in this October 2021 photo.
Aaron Eisenhauer ~ B Magazine

The idea for the two-part fundraiser came from the organization’s need to find creative ways to fundraise and reach donors, combined with the desire to incorporate ways for local children to participate.

“We came up with the idea of having a whole day dedicated to solving that question of, ‘How do we reach our donors?’ And also, ‘How can we reach our kids?’ And when we were looking at the calendar, the holiday season seemed to be the perfect opportunity to kind of merge those two together,” Treece said.

Treece said with this being the organization’s first year holding the event, they don’t really have set fundraising goals, and plan to instead focus on creating a quality event that brings children and adults from the Cape Girardeau community and surrounding areas together.

A worker talks with kids at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Missouri in this October 2021 photo.
Aaron Eisenhauer ~ B Magazine

“Hopefully we do raise some money, but if we create a fun, enjoyable event, it’ll grow on its own and it’ll become more successful and sustainable as time goes on,” Treece said. “We just want people to leave that day — whether it’s in the morning or evening — and say, ‘We had a good time,’ and ‘That’s a great organization, we’re glad it’s here in the community.’”

Treece added that outreach efforts and events are more important now as the coronavirus pandemic has calmed down and the organization is ready to start bringing more kids into the club again.

“Getting people to come to events so we can share that awareness of what we do and how we do it is going to help the kids in the community and help the organization,” Treece said.

The event will be catered by T.J.'s Burgers, Wings and Pizza and Tractor's Classic American Grill.

For more information on the Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Missouri and tickets to the fundraiser, visit bgcsemo.org or the organization’s facebook page at facebook.com/bgcsemo.

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