Children's Center fundraiser a success

Monte Curtis presents the deed for the property where the new Children's Center is to be located to the Children's Center Executive Director Vickie Dudley during the 2nd Annual Trivia and Mouse Race Night to benefit the Children's Center at the Nevada Elks Lodge Bingo Hall.. Michelle Workman/Daily Mail

Nevada Daily Mail

For a second year, members of the community came together to support the Children's Center of Southwest Missouri in Nevada through the Trivia and Mouse Race Night fundraiser held Saturday.

"We were very very pleased," said fundraising and executive board member Jeani Longstreth of the event. "We thought it went very well."

Longstreth said they sold out their more than 300 tickets, although the weather kept some from attending the event. The event raised $12,000 to $15,000 for the construction of the new building for the Children's Center in Nevada, to be used for child abuse assessment and treatment, according to Longstreth.

Participants at the fundraiser held at the Elks Lodge could buy tickets that would then be used to bet on mice -- racing under names such as Ben, Big Mac, Speedy Gonzales and Mortimer for example -- in 12 races of six mice each and a championship for the evening. Local businesses, including Selsor Construction, First National Bank and the Lamar Lions Club, as well as families sponsored individual mice racing in the "Ratucky Derby" and the tables at the event.

They could also use those tickets to participate in mouse roulette and in trivia quizzes given throughout the evening, with topics ranging from television to history or anatomy.

Winners of any of those events won more tickets and could use those tickets to place additional bets or participate in a drawing. An auction was also held during the event.

Longstreth thanked those at the fundraiser for their support over recent years, and said she is glad they are now moving into action to put those funds to work.

For three years, the Nevada branch of the Southwest Missouri centers had been searching for a place to move to, whether a building or property where they would construct their own facility. But during the fundraiser Saturday, that search officially came to an end as Monte Curtis presented the deed to a piece of property to the center's executive director Vickie Dudley.

The Curtis family had offered the land they purchased in 1969 to other departments in the city such as for the new jail or fire department, but it was considered too secluded. That quality was desired for the children's center however, and not long after hearing about the center's need for property, Curtis decided to donate the land.

"It's a very worthwhile endeavor," Curtis said.

Curtis said his place of business, Curtis and Sons, Inc., adjoins the building currently used for the children's center and it saddens him to see the children going there.

"It really gets to you when you see the little kids going in those doors," Curtis said. "There's a lot of sick people in the world, but there's a lot of good people, too in the city of Nevada."

Because of the donations and support from those people, the center has hired an architect and will soon accept bids for the construction of the facility. Longstreth said they hope to break ground within the next couple months, depending on the weather.

"We're just so overwhelmed," Longstreth said. "It's been a very long three years. Now that it's at fruition, we're very excited."