The Boys & Girls Club of Boone County and Buffalo Wild Wings® are partnering in October with a dine to donate program that benefits area youth sports. Through Oct. 31, 2020, a portion of diners’ proceeds will be donated to youth sports partners including the Boys & Girls Clubs of America ALL STARS program.
Buffalo Wild Wings in Zionsville (6537 Whitestown Parkway) and in Lebanon (2470 N. Lebanon St.) are participating in the program with proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County. A personal donation can be added to their guest check, and these donors will receive a coupon for a free Hatch Queso with a donation of $5 or more.
“Thank you to Buffalo Wild Wings for stepping up and supporting area youth through this program, our team strives to work with area youth so they can be their best. Every dollar donated at this time will help us support Boone County youth.”
Mark Branch, Boys & Girls Club of Boone County CEO
Registration for the fourth annual ZGravy Chase on Thanksgiving Day 2020 is now open. This year’s event gives runners and walkers the choice to participate live starting on Main Street in Zionsville or virtual via a walk/run in their own neighborhood. Regardless of the choice, proceeds benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County.
“For many families, ZGravy Chase has become a Thanksgiving tradition, and we heard from these past participants that they want the event to continue this year,” said Rob Schien, BGC Boone County Board president. “For our Main Street walkers and runners, our planning team is working with Town officials and the county health department to ensure all safety protocols are in place. The new walk-in-your neighborhood virtual opportunity offers our supporters a great option to participate at a socially distanced comfort level.”
ZGravy Chase traditionally welcomes families from throughout central Indiana. Runners and walkers include parents with strollers, families with dogs, and participants ranging in age from infants to 87 years old. The goal for the 2020 race is to raise $145,000 for the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County. Funds raised from this year’s event are more important than ever because the organization is projecting a 40% operations budget shortfall in 2020 due to current COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines.
Cost to run/walk at the event in Zionsville on Main Street is $40 per person or $130 for a family of four. Limited to 1,000 participants.
Cost to run/walk in your neighborhood virtually is $30 per person.
Register by Sunday, Nov. 1 to be guaranteed a tee shirt with delivery by race day (always a participant favorite).
Race packets will be available for pick up at the BGC Boone County Zionsville Unit on Wednesday Nov. 25 from noon to 6 p.m.
Optional packet shipment requests can be made during online registration.
Main Street runners and walkers race will start at 8 a.m. with rolling start times to ensure social distancing. Racers will move through in the hole, on deck, and start corrals to ensure safe spacing and distancing. This process allows 300 participants properly spaced at one time for walk run/walk preparation and starts. Masks are required pre- and post-race. The event starting line will be located separate from the finish line. Currently 1,000 runner/walker registrations are allocated.
Virtual runners and walkers will walk where they live on Thanksgiving Day. Virtual racers are encouraged to wear their tee-shirt during the walk, welcome other virtual racers you see along your route, and take photos to share on social media. Virutal participants can log their times after the virtual walk or run at Race Joy.
Neighborhood Ambassador volunteers are invited to organize family, friends and neighbors to join together to walk/run a route as a small group on Thanksgiving Day. Contact Katie Reasoner to sign up your neighborhood or community. Neighborhood Ambassadors will assist in promoting the race route in their neighborhood or community and receive a complimentary race registration.
Community members who cannot join zGRAVY Chase but would like to support the organization are invited to support the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County by making a donation.
We would like to thank Witham and Poplar Dentistry for their sponsorship of this event.
Renovations supported by Bone Dry Roofing, ESPN/LISC grant, Weston Foods, Cargill Corporation, Merritt Contracting, Boone County REMC Operation Round Up, United Way of Central Indiana, Community Foundation of Boone County Boone Beverage, and Lebanon School Corporation.
The Boys &Girls Club of Boone County is opening registrations for Summer Camp at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, May 11. Camp will he held at our Club Units in Lebanon, Whtiestown and Zionsville. As parent’s register their children, Club leadership is asking them to carefully review information about process and procedure, which follow current health and safety guidelines.
What addition safety procedures can we expect to ensure the health and wellness of the kids and staff?
Any and all field trips will be by pod and only to outdoor locations.
Campers and staff will have temperatures checked and answer questionnaires/health screenings before entering Clubs.
Campers and staff will have temperature checked a second time at lunch.
Masks will be available for members and required when appropriate.
Anyone with a temperature of 100.4 will not be allowed to participate and must go home. If this happens your child will wait in an office away from other youth and staff for everyone’s safety.
If a child or staff member has had direct contact with someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19, they must self-quarantine for 14 days and call their healthcare provider.
Each program area will be cleaned and disinfected at the end of each activity.
Campers and staff will regularly wash their hands.
Deep cleaning will happen in the evening/ before the clubs open the following day.
Social distancing practices put in place must be adhered to by each staff person and camper.
We have carefully reviewed guidelines from the CDC, FSSA and the state as we have planned this year’s camp. Due to social distancing and occupancy guidelines, we are restricting the number of campers at each location and organizing children in groups by age of up to 9 campers per group. We’re calling the groups pods and will have these groups in camp together all summer to ensure limited exposure to others.
Summer Camp Details and Registration
Registration opens on Monday, May 11.
Monday to Friday, June 1 through Friday, July 31, 7 a.m. to 6 p.
Cost is $100 per week or $30 per day.
Campers must be members of Boys & Girls Club of Boone County. ($65 membership)
Parents can register using the portal on the organization’s website.
The total campers at each location and planned pod group totals based on current guidelines:Lebanon: 36 campers (4 pods) Whitestown: 54 campers (6 pods) Zionsville: 45 campers (5 pods)
Leadership will continue to monitor the situation and guidance from state and national officials throughout the summer to determine if changes to the camp structure need to be made. During these uncertain times, we are excited to reopen and continue our mission of providing a safe environment for those who need us most.
Regards,
Mark Branch
Chief Operating Officer
Boys & Girls Club of Boone County
The Boys & Girls Club of Boone County’s Meal Program, established in mid-March, has become an essential Boone County program with an increasing daily need. Since county schools moved to eLearning and the statewide shelter in place order was issued, the organization staff and volunteers have served nearly 6,000 meals in-total, drive through style, to members of the community who have found themselves financiallychallenged.
Each day an average 250 hot meals arenow planned and served. Boys & Girls Club of Boone County leaders estimate it will take at least $50,000 to fully fund the program through the end of May, when the school year traditionally ends. Club leadershipiscommitted to ensuring community members who are financially challengedreceive at least one hot meal a day and are asking for the community’s support on Giving Tuesday, May 5.
The Food Program need
The Indiana Department of Education estimates about 40% of school-aged children in Lebanon are economically disadvantaged. Boone County’s unemployment rate was at 2.2% in February. The latest data from March shows statewide unemployment was 9.8%.
Prior to schools moving to eLearning to ensure student health and safety, the Lebanon Club served about 100 youth daily through a program funded by the Department of Education. The funds are no longer availablebecause the Boys and Girls Club of Boone County has closed facilities in compliance with the State of Indiana Executive Order. The three Clubs in the county are slated to safely reopen in June.
“Our staff and volunteers are committed to ensuring the basic needs of youth in our county by providing a hot meal each day,” says Mark Branch, CEO Boys & Girls Club of Boone County. “Our team and volunteers are doing a fantastic job each daily fulfilling the need. We’re asking for community support to continue this program through May.”
The Giving Tuesday Now ask
The average cost of a hot meal including supplies is $4 per person per day. The team is serving an average of 250 people each day. The Meal Program began in mid-March with a grant of $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Boone County. Several generous businesses have donated food for youth and families too. To fully fund the cost of food and supplies for the Meal Program through the end of May will take up to $50,000. Gifts will be matched up to $20,000 thanks to a generous matching donor.
The Club also needs volunteers each evening to pack meals for the program. Business owners that want to provide donated food/meals or sponsor meals also are needed to sustain the program. Contact Katie Reasoner,resource development director, for more information and details.
“Thank you to each and every business and organization that has supported the Meal Program since we started in mid-March. We could not do this without you,” says Reasoner.
This Program has been supported by
The Boone County Community Foundation, Zionsville Presbyterian Church, United Way of Central Indiana,Fitzmark, Global Plastics, Backroads BBQ, Boone County REMC Round Up Program, Lebanon Christian Church, Otterbein United Methodist Church, Northview Church, Jacquie’s Gourmet Catering, Chik-Fil-A, Panera Bread, Second Helpings, Campbell’s, Milky Way, Noah Grant’s, Zionsville Youth Soccer Association, Boone County Chamber of Commerce, Zionsville Chamber of Commerce, Centier Bank, Meijer, Purity Wholesale Groceries and Duke Energy.
Wow, what a week! We hit two milestones by serving over 300 meals on both Tuesday and Thursday nights. We can’t thank Backroads BBQ enough for the continued support. By 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, we had run out of the initial meal. Mike and the crew at Backroads were able to supply an additional 150 meals for us within 30 minutes. Christian Stafford, Lebanon Unit Director and Bridget Griffin, Kitchen Manager have continued to go above and beyond to meet the needs of the Boone County community. In just five weeks, we have served 5,363 meals!
We are committed to serving the meals until May 29 from the Lebanon Unit, 403 W. Main St. Meals will be available Monday through Friday, from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The support from the community for food donations, monetary donations and volunteers has been generous and is so appreciated. We could not do this program without everyone’s support. You are all truly demonstrating we are IN this together. We will continue to write grants and solicit donations to keep the program funded.
Donation boxes are available outside the Zionsville Unit, 1575 Mulberry Street or at any of the locations in Lebanon, Whitestown and Zionsville from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Monday – Friday.
Mark your calendars for Tuesday, May 5 for the Giving Tuesday, #Togetherwegive fundraising campaign. Look for more information, videos and opportunities to give in the next two weeks.
The Glow Dance originally scheduled for Friday, March 13 has been postponed until August 29th.
Tickets purchased will still be accepted for the future date. If you would like a refund, please email Glenn Sanford at gsanford@bgcboone.org. We apologize for the inconvenience. The Boys & Girls Club of Boone County is committed to the youth and their health and safety. We are postponing the dance as a pre-cautionary measure. Stay Healthy!
At the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County, the health and safety of our members is our top priority.
With the closing of local schools and our three units, there is an unintended consequence of availability for meals for families in most need of our services. To address this need the Club will be offering a take out evening meal at the Lebanon Unit, 403 West Main Street. The offering is available to Club members and any community member in need during these difficult times.
Meals will be available Monday through Friday beginning March 16 – March 27 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. with a limit of eight carry out meals per family. We are initially preparing meals for at least 100 people each day and will make adjustments as needed.
The Club is offering this service to the Boone County community during this time of need. The meal program is not funded by the Department of Education program as those funds are only available when the Club is open for daily services. Therefore, the Club is actively seeking monetary and food donations.
There is a food donation box placed outside the Zionsville (East Club) 1575 Mulberry Street or drop off during business hours Monday – Friday 9 am to 5 pm.
Items needed:
Applesauce
Fruit cups
Carrot and celery sticks
Apple slices
Canned vegetables
Hamburger and Hot dog buns
Hot dogs
Spaghetti and sauce
Ground beef
Shredded cheese
Taco shells and seasoning
Thank you to the Community Foundation of Boone County for stepping up to initially support this effort. We will need additional help to continue to provide this program for the families who need it most in these uncertain times.
In addition, we are in need of volunteers to assist distributing the meals.
In light of the news about the Coronavirus (CoViD-19) and the actions of the Lebanon and Zionsville Community School Corporations, beginning on Thursday, March 12 at 6:00 p.m. the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County, Lebanon, Whitestown and Zionsville Units will be closed.
The Club will be closed from Friday, March 13 through Friday, March 27. All sports leagues, before and after school care and all activities are canceled.
We will re-evaluate the spring break schedule as we approach that week.
If you have any concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to any of our Club staff.
