Members of Unaka High School’s Key Club received a special grant to help them with a community outreach project to bridge the gap between generations.
The Club received a Youth Opportunities Fund grant through Key Club International. The Youth Opportunities Fund provides financial support for Key Club International events and projects. Through service grants to individual Key Clubs, members are able to improve their school and communities.
Local clubs must apply for grants through the YOF and describe the project they would like to use the funding for and how it will benefit their community.
“When we applied for it, we put in our proposed project that we wanted to do a Senior Citizen’s Prom,” said Kayla Clawson, a teacher at UHS and faculty advisor for the Key Club. “We wanted to allow the senior citizens the opportunity for socialization and interaction with our students, specifically the Key Club members. The main thing is we want them to have a night out to socialize and interact with each other and with our students.”
Key Club International’s core value of caring inspired the students to come up with the idea of the Senior Citizen’s Prom. Clawson said the event will work to integrate the senior community with the school’s community.
“I think it’s really great that us students are reaching out to the elderly and putting the prom on and I’m just so grateful and excited that we have the opportunity to do this for them, and to be able to brighten their day,” said Jaida Walters, President of the UHS Key Club
For their proposal, the Club asked for $800 in funding, and Clawson said the group received the full funding request. Once they learned the Club had received the grant, Clawson said they began work planning the event.
Clawson and Club members will be working with the staff of the Elizabethton Senior Center to plan and host the Senior Citizen’s Prom, which has been set for Saturday, Sept. 23, from 6-9 p.m. at the Elizabethton Senior Center.
“We are going to be doing some more fundraisers before then so we can have more to offer at the event,” Clawson said.
Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character, and develop leadership. There are currently more than 272,000 members in more than 5,000 clubs in 38 nations around the world. Key Club International is a service leadership program sponsored by Kiwanis International.