A high-energy Valentine’s Day Dance, featuring music, dinner, dancing, and plenty of fun, will help provide meals for hundreds of local children.
The Corbin Backpack Club Program is hosting its first-ever Valentine’s Day Dance on Friday, Feb. 13, from 6–9 p.m. at the Corbin Center. Every dollar raised will go directly toward feeding students in Corbin, Knox, and Whitley counties.
“It’s a fundraiser,” said Mike Lewis, Board Chair of the Corbin Backpack Club. “The program lives completely off of individual donations. We don’t get any state or federal money. We get money from the community.”
Due to this, events like this one are important for ensuring the program can continue to serve kids in the local area. The Valentine’s Day Dance is the first event of this size that the program has attempted.
Tickets are $25 per person, and include a full sit-down dinner and live music from Dr. Whitley and the Sky Band, Larry Goodwin, Tom Blair and the Harmonica Man, Tommy Crate.
In an added boost for the fundraiser, Dr. Whitley has pledged to match up to $2,500 raised through ticket sales.
“In kind of an odd way, he is paying us to play,” said Lewis. “I think that’s wonderful of him. He’s really doing us a big solid here.”
The event is open to all ages, and guests can attend solo or bring a date.
Tickets can be purchased at First Christian Church Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., at local State Farm Insurance Offices, or at the door the night of the event.
Tickets are encouraged to be purchased by Feb. 11 so the program can ensure there is enough food, but they can also be purchased at the door.
Those unable to attend can still donate through the group’s Facebook page.
The organization is now in its 21st year and packs between 800 and 1,000 bags every week. Each bag costs roughly $10.58 and includes a drink, ramen noodles, Vienna sausages, applesauce, pudding, raisins, and other kid-friendly items to get them through the week when school meals are not available.
“There are an enormous number of kids in those three areas,” said Lewis. “We try to give them sufficient food. Something that would be nourishing and be able to take care of them through the weekend.”
Volunteers from the University of the Cumberlands, Corbin High School, and the community help pack bags weekly. The entire program is run solely on volunteers, and all donations go straight to food for the kids.
“The importance of this dance is to continue feeding the children,” said Lewis. “That’s our initiative, that’s our theme, that’s our plan, and that’s our purpose.”
