BRYANT — What better way to ring in the new year than to attend the fourth annual Starlight Gala benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant?
The theme for this year’s event is “A Gatsby Affair.”
Patrons are invited to dress “to the nines” — complete with top hats and pearls — for an evening of dining, dancing and fun from 7 p.m. to midnight Dec. 31 at the Benton Event Center, 17332 Interstate 30 in Benton. Tickets, at $75 for individuals or $150 for couples, may be purchased at www.bryantbgc.org/star
light-gala or facebook.com/starlightgala. Tickets will also be available at the door.
“This is our largest fundraiser of the year,” said Karissa
Stephens, resource development director at the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant. “We don’t have a nice black-tie event in Saline County. This is the only event of its kind here.
“This brings out the community for a great cause.”
Stephens said the event will feature a cocktail hour, a silent auction, a buffet dinner prepared
by chef Bonner Cameron of Bistro Catering, entertainment by the local band Sister/Sister, gaming tables and dancing. DJ Jellybean, a disc jockey from Central Arkansas Entertainment, will also provide entertainment.
“The food will be fabulous,” Stephens said. “Among the choices will be prime-rib and pork-tenderloin carving stations. There will even be an ice sculpture with oysters on the half shell and crab claws. If you want it, it will be there. There will be something for everyone.”
Several “hometown heroes” will be honored.
“No one knows who they are,” Stephens said. “It’s a secret.”
“[The gala] is going to blow everything away,” said Brooke Andrews, chairman of the planning committee. Andrews has served on the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant’s board of directors for three years and is the current secretary and incoming president.
“This is going to be the most fabulous event Saline County has ever seen,” Andrews said. “We couldn’t be more excited about it.”
Debbie and Shane Broadway are honorary chairmen of the event, which is presented by Landers of Saline County.
“We are really honored to be a part of this,” Debbie Broadway said. “This place (the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant) helps children learn to be good citizens when they grow up. That’s why we support it.”
Stephens said this is the 10th anniversary of the club.
“The Broadways have been a part of it since it started,” Stephens said. “They were among those who saw a need for a youth organization in Bryant and helped start it.”
Stephens said the club serves “over 500 children [between the ages of 6 and 14] a day.”
“We have an after-school and summer program that serves students mainly in the Bryant School District,” she said. “Our summer program is open to all school districts.”
According to the club’s website, www.bryantbgc.org, the club includes activities in recreation, education, peer leadership, technology, substance prevention, physical fitness and the arts. The club started as the Bryant Youth Association in 2004 and received its charter from Boys & Girls Clubs of America in February 2005. The club began as a campus-based program, housed at Bryant Elementary School, until the Bishop Park complex was constructed.
Suzanne Passmore is director of the Boys & Girls Club of Bryant, which is in the Bishop Park complex at 6401 Boone Road.
For more information on Starlight Gala 2014 or the club, call (501) 943-0056 or email bryantbgcinfo@gmail.com. More information is also available at www.bryantbgc.org.