On Wednesday, December 5th, The Arc of the Ozarks held the 23rd Annual Christmas Extravaganza. This event is a dinner gala with silent and live auctions. All the proceeds from this fundraising event go to Rivendale. Rivendale is an alternative school setting for children with learning difficulties or autism. Rivendale’s child-centered approach focuses on fostering positive emotional growth, increasing academic, language, and behavioral competencies, and enhancing each student’s natural strengths.
The 220 individuals attending Christmas Extravaganza enjoyed a delicious meal. Entertainment was provided by Shaun Munday Wings of Swing Big Band. The evening was held at the Bass Pro White River Conference Center with David Oliver as the emcee. This year, the auction was mobile friendly, utilizing an online bidding platform called BidPal. Individuals placed bids through their phones and individuals who could not attend the event were able to bid. The auction included over 100 silent auction packages from businesses around the Ozarks and 12 live auction items including jewelry from Maxon’s Diamond Merchants, a getaway to St. Lucia and a Springfield Date Night package with tickets to Lion King at Juanita K. Hammons in March. The silent and live auction alone raised over $18,000 adding to the final total of $40,000 raised for the students of Rivendale.
The night also honored several special groups of people who help to make our community better, the Community Partner of the Year and Guardian of the Year. The Arc Community Partner of 2018 was Dickerson Park Zoo for their work with The Arc’s employment Summer Work Program. Jessica Penrose was honored as the Guardian of the Year for all of the support and guidance she provided our staff and clients as Public Administrator for Greene County.
Guests enjoyed a night of holiday celebration for a good cause. Thank you to Family Pharmacy and Mercy Health as well as all of our table sponsors and donors that made this event successful. The 24th Annual Christmas Extravaganza is set for Friday, December 6, 2019.
