HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE — A New Year’s Eve Gala will be held in Hot Springs Village to raise funds for the Paul Bewie Boys and Girls Club.
A Boys and Girls Club in Hot Springs Village?
Jeremy Dean, interim director of the club, said he gets that reaction all the time.
“We actually get 40 to 60 kids a day that take the bus from Jessieville and Fountain Lake schools,” he said. “That’s a lot for being outside what is thought of by a lot of people as a retirement community.”
As residents of the world’s largest gated community know, Hot Springs Village has always had children living there. Last year, the two school districts in the area — the Jessieville Public School District and the Fountain Lake School District — reported that combined, more than 500 of their students live in the Village.
For several years, the community has been marketed more for resort living rather than a place to retire, so the number of children living in the Village is growing.
Even with plenty of children, the Paul Bewie branch is a rare kind of Boys and Girls Club.
“We are the only rural club in Arkansas and one of less than a dozen in the country,” said Rick Cash, chairman of the club’s board of directors. “That means we don’t have a city government to support us, and we get nothing from the Property Owners’ Association. So we work hard just to keep the doors open.”
“Every day, buses come the from the two schools to our club just outside the east gate of the Village with students for our after-school program,” said Dean, who has been with the Boys and Girls Club for four years. “In the summer, we have children from all over the county come to the club while they are visiting in the Village.”
Dean said grandparents will bring children to the club for a few hours to take part in the summer activities.
“Last year, we had kids from California and Colorado and other states at the club,” he said. “It is great to have the kids from other places playing with the local kids. Many of them have never gone out of state.”
The second annual New Year’s Eve Gala will be held at the DeSoto Event Center in the Village starting at 6 p.m. on Dec. 31.
Cash said dinner, catered by a restaurant in Hot Springs, will begin at 7 p.m.
“The music is by Marcus, a big favorite of Village residents, and there will be dancing and a casino event,” he said. “The winners will be able to turn in their chips for tickets for a drawing that will offer some big prizes, like a vacation home for a week, box seats at Oaklawn Park, and gift and golf packages. The more people win, the more tickets they will get.”
Last year, the event raised more than $9,500 for the club’s programs, Cash said.
“Of course, we would like to do things bigger and better this year,” he said. “We are increasing the number of seats from 200 for 240, and the blackjack will go from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.”
Cash said he hopes the event will raise more than $10,000 for the club and the kids who come there every day.
For tickets or for more information about the gala, call the club at (501) 984-6996.
Staff writer Wayne Bryan can be reached at (501) 244-4460 or wbryan@arkansasonline.com.