Nonprofit's Winter Carnival provides family fun

Along with providing a fun day to families and children under the age of 18, the Project ASCENT Winter Carnival last weekend in Thompson Falls also provided teenagers with a chance to get experience as volunteers. According to organization secretary Andrea Christensen, doing so allows kids to "have fun on a different level, and use that as educational currency." She said this referring to several youths who volunteered to work game booths during the event. As Christensen explained, volunteering can give the youths substance to pad their resumes with, as well as to use for scholarships. Several young volunteers stepped up and took on the task, and participants and event staff explained that they were impressed with the personal growth each of the young volunteers experienced.

According to Christensen, it is difficult to get youth to volunteer, due to sports taking up much of most young people's schedules. However, she explained that these youth who are not involved in sports have less opportunity for scholarships and are the ones who need the opportunity the most. For Christensen, this may be the best thing to volunteer for. "Of all the volunteer opportunities Project ASCENT offers, this one is unique because it is directly for the community," she stated. "They don't just get exposed to the work and the community, but to our other volunteers, and we have a really solid team."

One 11-year-old girl volunteered to work the snowball toss booth much of the day. "She stepped right up. She was such a trooper," Christensen said, noting that the girl already asked to run a game next year. Christensen also mentioned two other young teenagers who volunteered, one of which spoke to Christensen about being so full of energy afterward that he also asked to come back to help again next year. "Most kids we get are very shy," said Christensen. "It's good for them to have that rapid social practice," and she explained how the youth tend to come out of their shell.

Christensen described how the effect reaches beyond the youth that volunteer, and that the children who play the games also tend to light up after the event and grow confidence. "Even though it's a lot of people, they still get this one-on-one time, within the safe zone of their parents. The games make a nice ice breaker for that," said Christensen.

According to Christensen the event was the biggest yet, drawing more than 450 people. She explained that nearly all their stats doubled when compared to last year, including food output. The group gave out 257 free meals to kids and sold over $300 in concessions. The crew even ran out of food items several times during the day. The food booth also gave out the most hot Dr. Pepper ever, going through nine two-liter bottles. The total event cost was over $3,000.

For more on Project ASCENT, visit projectascent.org.