Christmas fundraiser could help Boys and Girls Club with $210K in losses from pandemic

The Boys & Girls Club of Poplar Bluff will host a semi-formal Festival of the Trees Christmas “Mask”querade Saturday, Nov. 21.

Club members will be the biggest winner of this fundraiser, and anyone buying a ticket before Oct. 31 will receive a special price of $75 instead of $100, said Terri McCormick, the club’s resource development director/finance director.

Poplar Bluff Realty Inc. is donating $7,500 to help finance the fundraiser and is the top sponsor.

Six additional sponsorship levels are available: star, $5,000; angel, $2,500; nutcracker, $1,500; wreath, $1,000; snowflake, $500; and jingle bell, $250.

Each sponsorship level will receive various benefits, including a number of tickets and promotional items.

“Boys & Girls Club revenue for this year is down 35% from last year,” McCormick said. “Unfortunately, this school year we have been forced to cut things as we navigate 2020.

“The cancellation of our spring fundraiser, Taste of the Town, was a loss of $60,000. The Missouri Department of Economic Development did not offer tax credits and that alone equates to a loss of $150,000. We also lost 21st Century funding, which represents a $71,000 loss from 2019.”

Even with the losses, “we have been successful in maintaining all seven sites, but had to make some major cuts in the services,” she said. “We are serving less kids as our average daily attendance last year was 440, but for September, it was at 339.

“We have also increased our child-to-staff ratio from last year of 8:1 to this year of 15:1. We have been able to keep from closing any sites, but the next two months will be crucial in our plans moving forward.”

The club is looking at $210,000 missing this year.

“It’s really all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, it has really hit Boys & Girls Club hard. We need the community to know how important it is we hold this fundraiser,” McCormick said.“We’re taking it day by day and doing what we can, powering through and trying to get by. It all comes down to funding and getting the money in the door.”

“Everyone’s in the same predicament,” she said. “If the kids are in school, and the kids are in club, parents can work. They can stay at work longer. They don’t have to take off.

“It’s when the kids are not in school or not at club, parents have to take off, which hurts their income. In return, it hurts employers. It’s a vicious circle.”

“A lot of people don’t realize the situation we’re in, you know,” she said. “They assume we are getting government money. No, and we don’t. We don’t want to close our doors. These kids need us badly to make a drastic difference in their lives, in their school, their grades, their peers, the way they react with others.”

Every effort is being made to keep the event safe, McCormick stressed.

She said, “Where we can’t necessarily make it masks mandatory, we are making it highly recommended; we’ll have masks at the door to hand out. We’re going to have sanitizing stations throughout Black River Coliseum. Our staff will serve the meals. We will be serving, so not everybody is touching all the utensils and all the food.”

The group is doing everything “we can because it is so important we have this fundraiser,” she said. “We’ve decided we will go above and beyond what we would normally do and make sure everybody’s social distancing. We’ve lowered our table from eight to 10 people at a table to six per table.

“We will do social distancing. We’re basically going to take all the precautionary measures we need to have this event and make sure everybody feels safe. That’s why we’re making it a masquerade. I’d like to give a prize to whoever has the most decorated mask to get the community involved and to make it a fun event.”

Karon Campbell is catering. There will be a three-piece jazz band. Wil Fisher Companies will do the refreshments.

“We will be auctioning Christmas trees, wreaths and table arrangements,” she said. “Local businesses will decorate them and we will auction the night of the event.”

If anyone is unable to attend in person, organizers are planning to offer live streaming of the auction.

“For people who don’t feel safe about coming to the event, they can still bid on the auction items,” McCormick said. “Some businesses are not allowing their employees to go to large gatherings, but people want to bid on the items.”

While the Missouri Department of Economic Development didn’t offer the tax credits to the club, donors still receive some benefit for donating to a nonprofit.

Anyone interested in being a sponsor or buying tickets may contact McCormick at 573-776-1690 or visit www.bgcpb.org.