Youth Bridge's 'Nox Stellata' promises a new brand of fundraising

Youth Bridge's upcoming fundraiser, Nox Stellata, promises to entertain its guests on a grand scale: The event is being held at 2 W. La Coste Court in Rogers, a French-inspired, 16,000-square-foot mansion with a pool house, movie theater and wine cellar that is on loan for the night courtesy of Signature Bank.

Youth Bridge's director of advancement, Nancy Hairston, says the event is loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death."

"In that story, a prince brings his friends and subjects into his castle to entertain them with these rooms of color so they can escape the plague that's raging outside," says Hairston. "The plague we're trying to address is boring galas! The Edgar Allen Poe version has death, but ours represents life."

Hairston says the event will feature seven themed rooms, each associated with a different color. Each room will feature a different activity, which will include craft beer tasting, performances by a silk aerialist, a cigar lounge and bourbon tasting.

Hairston says that art will also play a big part in the evening's events.

"One person is doing body paintings, and we've got artists who will be poolside, air brush painting," she says. "A muralist will be in one of the rooms painting, and guests can be a part of that. We've got an artist who will be working on painting two Herman Miller Eames chairs that will be auctioned off during the live auction."

An Airstream bar and a Volkswagen bus photo booth round out the unusual offerings at the event.

Hairston says that the mission of Youth Bridge and the experiences of the adolescents it helps will be front and center at the event. She adds that Northwest Arkansas' virtual reality specialists Freelance Society will present a virtual reality movie with a goal of illustrating what Youth Bridge kids experience.

"This hasn't been done by a nonprofit, and, really, by very few people in Northwest Arkansas," says Hairston. "Freelance Society has worked with some of our kids to film what it must be like for them to go through some of the issues in life that they face. This will be shown in the theater, and we'll have ongoing viewings with headsets so they viewers can understand and actually feel the emotions our kids sometimes feel."

Youth Bridge is approaching 55 years of service to kids ages 9 to 18 in nine counties in northwestern and north-central Arkansas. In addition to a residential program, Youth Bridge also works with children and families through the school system, as well as offering outpatient counseling at their centers.

"We see 2,500 kids a year to help them with issues they're facing," says Hairston, who notes that the issues range from the run-of-the-mill adolescent speed bumps to more serious concerns. "Some of them have come from dangerous environments -- sexual trafficking, even. A lot of people don't realize that that happens all over Arkansas.

"Some kids are just reacting to a lot of things going on in their lives. It could be bullying in the schools, which we help identify. We really want them to stay in school, because if they don't, they might not have the kind of life that will allow them to be a productive member of society . And we're there to make sure those kids get all of the help and support that they can get."

Hairston says that profits from the Nox Stellata event are ear marked for two areas of service at Youth Bridge.

"We need to have trauma-informed classrooms," says Hairston. These classrooms would include instructors trained to work with children who come into the organization from backgrounds that might include violence or traumatic events. "Our kids are coming in with trauma, and we need to have special ways to deal with them. We're also being asked to take on kids that are much earlier in age, so that has been a new twist for us."

Hairston says that Nox Stellata will also help raise funds for those families who have difficulty paying for services.

"Our Legacy Funds help us work with kids who might not have revenue sources -- insurance to pay for counseling," says Hairston. "We don't want to turn anyone away. So the Legacy Fund is to pay for those families who really need us. It's a way to help us provide more services."

NAN Profiles on 10/15/2017