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Fundraiser planned Sunday
at Wick’s Pizza
Looking for something to do on a Sunday afternoon but don’t want to have to travel far from home or put a crunch on the wallet? Or want to help a child in the community but don’t exactly know how to help? Perfect answer to both questions- “Singing and laughing for Sofi,” a fundraiser to be held at Wick’s Pizza this Sunday from 1 to 7 p.m. The event has been organized by Meadow Ryann, Jeannine Drollinger and Jennifer Hutton.
“I just wanted to help Sofi because she is someone from the community. I have helped with some other fundraisers and charity stuff and when I seen the fundraisers for Sofi, I knew helping someone in the community would be great,” stated Meadow. “I just thought what better way to help her, music helps all.”
The fundraiser will include singers, bands and comedians coming together to support Sofi Wilkinson. She is a six year old kindergarten student at Jonathan Jennings Elementary School in Charlestown. Wilkinson suffers from Dravet Syndrome, which causes severe seizures and needed a service dog to help detect the damaging seizures. Fundraisers were held and money already collected to purchase the service dog. Now the family needs the funds to travel to Ohio and train with the service dog. The Wilkinson family will need funds for the two week training period.
The fundraiser will feature Charlestown’s own Meadow Ryann, The Day Dream Brothers, Paul Turner, Junction Creek, Dylan Arms and Damaged Goods Improv Comedy. The cost of admission is only $5 with all proceeds going to benefit Sofi.
“Where else can you go and enjoy good food, great entertainment with an array of music and support a good cause to help a child from our community,” Drollinger stated. “Does it get any better than that?”
The entertainment line up has been organized by Meadow and Jeannine and offers a variety of music and talent from the local area.
“Paul Turner is a member of The Monarchs. He will play 70’s music. He is just awesome. I can’t believe he is helping Meadow out. He taught Meadow her first and only guitar lessons. She went to him for about 11 months when she first started,” Drollinger explained.
The Day Dream Brothers have their own style of music and always are entertaining. Junction Creek is a great country and southern rock band.
“There will be different kinds of music. There will definitely be something for everybody,” Hutton added.
The fundraiser to help a local child is keeping the entertainment local also! Turner is from New Albany, The Day Dream Brothers are from New Albany, Dylan Arms is from Jeffersonville, Damaged Goods is from Louisville, Junction Creek is from Bullitt County and Meadow Ryann is from Charlestown.
Ryann knew she wanted to help and is amazed at how quickly the fundraiser came together.
“We contacted Ms. Hutton and Ms. Weber and Sofi through the webpage. I told them the idea I had about a fundraiser with different musicians and to raffle some stuff to help Sofi,” Meadow stated. “We threw it all together kinda fast.”
Meadow and her mother, Jeannine, organized the music acts for the fundraiser while Hutton, who teaches at Jonathan Jennings, concentrated on the raffles and silent auctions.
“Meadow contacted us and wanted to help,” Hutton added. “Sofi is one of those kids that grabbed every teacher in the building. She is just a fun and sassy kid,” Hutton described the six year old kindergartener. “We had set up a Facebook page and started some fundraisers.”
Along with the musical entertainment, the fundraiser will feature raffles, 50/50 drawing and a silent auction. Many donated items have already been given to help Sofi through the auctions and raffles.
Donated items include: a Tom Crean autographed basketball; Gmax full face mask motorcycle helmet; a photo session from Moments Photography plus $50 of prints; tickets to The Crashers Monster Crash 2- The Haunted Prom on October 27; six gift certificates for Louisville Slugger personalized bats; a salsa basket of homemade yummies from Amy Short; a donation from Jazzercise; Girlie Glam hair bows; a donation from The Concrete Lady and a U of L chips and dip tray with ice trays.
According to Drollinger, the final decision of how the raffle will be held and what items will be raffled or for the silent auction will be decided after all donated items have been received. If you would like to help Sofi but are unable to attend the fundraiser, you may make a donation for the auction or a monetary donation by contacting Jennifer Hutton, Jeannie Drollinger or Meadow Ryann at Singing and laughing for Sofi on Facebook, Give Sofi a New Leash on Life on Facebook or the Meadow Ryann Facebook page. You may also contact Hutton at Jonathan Jennings at 812-256-7284. You may also make a monetary donation at the Charlestown Police Department located at 701 Main Street in Charlestown.
“I’m excited to do this event for Sofi. I’m excited to do something for someone from the community,” Meadow explained with her beautiful smile.
Jeannine echoed Meadow’s excitement.
“We hope the community will come to support Sofi even though this fundraiser is not in town. Jennifer, Meadow and I looked for a place to hold the fundraiser in town but we hope the community will turnout to support her. This is all about supporting people in the community,” Drollinger added. “This is two young people coming together for a good cause. One young person with talent and one who needs the help. You can’t go wrong when you have young people wanting to help other young people.”
Drollinger was also grateful for Wick’s Pizza.
“I cannot tell you how thankful we are to Wick’s for donating the location. It is a nice location with a great stage and sound system. It is a great location,” Drollinger praised.
She also praised the sound system volunteer.
“We couldn’t do this without a sound person. Tim the Sound Guy, that is all I know him by, he is donating his entire day to help us out. It is great how everybody has come together to help Sofi but we couldn’t accomplish this without a sound person. I couldn’t accomplish it, Jennifer couldn’t accomplish it. We are very grateful he is donating his time.”
Jeannine continued, “Nobody asked for anything. Everyone is donating their time and talent. It is just an awesome way to help a young child from our community.”
The fundraiser will have something going on all day from 1 to 7 p.m. Wick’s Pizza will have their full menu available during the fundraiser. The suggested cost is $5 per person at the door for each person Sofi’s age (6) and up, kids who wear their Sofi bracelet will be admitted free.
Wick’s Pizza is located at 225 State Street in New Albany.
“What makes this event successful is people walking through the door,” Drollinger concluded. |
