Jessi Nowaskie
January 10, 2023
Early this summer, at our monthly Rotary Young Leaders meeting, members of the club were throwing around ideas for events we could spearhead in Vincennes. We were just coming off the high of the first inaugural Vincennes Historic Half Marathon and the success of the race had us excited to keep the momentum going.
“What if we throw a huge Halloween party?” The mention of a party immediately got everyone excited and ideas were flying from members all around the room. Themes, decor, event spaces, costume contests, a DJ. We even landed on a name – Fright Night. Everyone was in! So, we got right to work. Members of RYL planned the event from top to bottom. We secured Adams Coliseum, got a live band and a DJ, and booked catering and bar services. In the months leading up to Fright Night, members spent hours making decorations, ordering supplies, and finalizing all the details of the party to ensure everything went off without a hitch.
To stay true to the mission of RYL, we decided to donate all proceeds of Fright Night to Backpacks of Love, a local organization that provides weekend meals to over 100 kids in the Vincennes area.
Before we knew it, the day had arrived. We got all of our decorations up, lights hung, tables set, and we were ready to party! And what a party it was. We had almost 200 attendees who ate, drank, and danced the night away. We were so happy with the turn out and were glad to see people decked out in so many GREAT costumes!
After the fun was had, we tallied up our total ticket sales, and were able to donate over $5,000 to Backpacks of Love! What a success! All of our hard work paid off. We would like to thank everyone who made Fright Night a success: the Alexia Caballero Group, DJ Duddy J, Bobe-B-Q, Cutter’s Way, and VCSC.
RYL has a lot of fun organizing these events and we are proud to put forth the work when we are able to give back to our community. Our goal, as a group, is to provide our time, resources, and money raised to make Vincennes a place where younger generations want to live for years to come. By holding events like Fright Night, we are hoping to bring lots of life to our city, and make Vincennes an even better place to live.
Since the beginning of RYL, our community has welcomed us with open arms, and so many people and businesses have helped and supported us as we navigated through our first year as a non-profit organization. We are excited to make Fright Night an annual event, and look forward to growing RYL and the outreach we are able to provide to Vincennes in the future.
To learn more about Backpacks of Love, click the button below!
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