Event to help support mission of Renzi Center
The Renzi Education and Art Center will play host to their eighth annual Bunco Bash and Silent Auction event 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 27 at Eldorado Resort and Casino. All proceeds will benefit the Renzi Center’s free after-school arts and academics program.
Tickets are $45 per person and can be purchased at www.renzicenter.org or by calling 222-1414. With door prizes, raffle prizes and a silent auction, director of the Renzi Center, Christy Kirkley, said the event first and foremost is a bunco tournament, but no experience is required.
“We make it really simple for people who have never played bunco before,” Kirkley said. “So all you have to do is throw dice. There is no skill required at all! Anybody who’s never played before can come and still have a good time.”
The top and first place prize are two round-trip tickets with Virgin America to anywhere they fly in the United States. The second place prize is a “pamper me” package, which includes prizes from Chemistry Hair Salon, a cleaning from Porter’s Cleaners, a massage and facial, a gym membership with Fit Nation and more – all with a value of more than $1,000. The third prize is a monthly dinner package, which includes 12 $50 gift certificates to local restaurants such as Chianti’s, Zocolo’s and Marilynn’s Place.
Barrett Lighting and Home Interiors is providing the fourth prize of interior furnishings with a $500 value. The final fifth place prize is a 32-inch LED HDTV.
The silent auction will have items ranging from tickets to the Oct. 25 David Sedaris show at the Strand Theatre, gift certificates to spas and salons, jewelry donations from local businesses and tickets to the Strand and the opera.
The goal of this year’s fundraiser is to raise $25,000 to continue the free afterschool arts and academics program that the Renzi Center provides to local neighborhood children. The center has been around for more than 15 years, and serves as a supportive and safe environment for children to learn and grow through art and scholastic experiences while surrounded by caring and encouraging instructors and staff.
The mission of the Renzi Center has remained to be about the community that surrounds them and their commitment to the neighborhood.
“We got started when the sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows were donated this house on Egan Street and they saw that there was a need [to help] all the children in this area because they didn’t have anywhere to be after school,” Kirkley said.
“[The sisters of Our Lady of Sorrows] got together with a local artist Donna Service and developed a program that would have both arts and academics for those kids, seeing that many of them went to poor-performing schools,” she said. “They were struggling with the effects of poverty and saw that they needed help with their academics. In addition, they knew that by exposing the kids to local artists who were sharing their art with the, the kids could learn a way to express themselves and find something they would be good at to give them self confidence to overcome some of their obstacles both at home and at school.”
The arts and academics classes provided at Renzi are taught by professional artists and educators, ensuring every child has a meaningful experience while at the center. More than 100 kids attend the Renzi Center throughout their 28-week calendar school year with up to 60 children per day from grades kindergarten to 12th grade.
In addition, they also hold a summer camp program that serves as a multidisciplinary arts camp, For more information on tickets to the Bunco Bash and Silent Auction and to check out a new documentary on the Renzi Education and Art Center, visit www.renzicenter.org.
– Katie Ho
