Another Successful Back to School BBQ!

If you have been following 15th Night for a while now, you will have heard about our annual Back to School BBQ. This year, our 15th Night Youth Action Council hosted their biggest event of this year on August 22 and it did not disappoint! 

In total, our team saw 136 youth come through the gate of Springfield Drifters Stadium – this is our biggest turnout yet! After completing a brief survey, youth and their families were welcomed into the stadium where we had hot food, tables lined with school supplies, brand new shoes, and a dozen partner agencies ready to share resources. Members of our 15th Night Youth Action Council were at every “station” ready to help youth feel prepared to re-engage in school this Fall. 

By the end of the event, our team had given away almost every single item on our school supply table, only taking a few leftover backpacks with us to be distributed to youth who need one throughout the year. Others on our team helped size shoes for youth who came to the event with pairs that were literally falling off their feet. When asked how the new shoes made them feel, a few responses included “I feel more confident” and “I rely on my skateboard to get around town and cannot always afford a new pair of shoes – this is so helpful”. Another youth shared that they had been eyeing a pair of Vans at the mall for almost a year but couldn’t afford them. She was so excited to see the exact pair in her size at the event!

Just as 15th Night is a community movement, this event follows suit. We could not have pulled it off so successfully without a handful of folks providing support. 

• A massive thank you to Ike Olsson and Olsson Industrial Electric for letting us use the Springfield Drifters Stadium to host the event. The location was close to a bus line for easy access and allowed for our team to spread out resources and tabling for ample engagement with young people attending. 
• To the Bess Blacquire Real Estate Group, the Moshofsky Real Estate Group, and the Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Equinox team – thank you for believing in our vision and supporting this event through being corporate sponsors. We are so grateful to have had your support.  
• Thank you to Bigfoot Beverages for donating 7 cases of drinks to the event! 
• A big thank you to Faith Center Church for building a team of folks to prepare, cook, deliver and serve the food to our event attendees. This was no easy feat and they did it all with incredible grace! 
• Thank you A Family for Every Child for partnering with us and donating new school supplies including 60+ brand new backpacks, paper, folders, and spiral notebooks. We CANNOT express how grateful we were to have the supplies! 
• Thank you Soles for Souls for partnering with us so that we could give away one brand new pair of shoes to each youth! 
• To all of our tabling partners – 4J School District, HOOTS, Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad, Shift Cycle, A Family for Every Child, Connected Lane County, Lane Transit District, PacificSource, Queer Eugene, and Looking Glass – THANK YOU for taking time out of your busy days to set up and share resources with youth. We could not do this work without our incredible partners and we are so grateful in the ways that they show up every year! 

Our team has taken a very well deserved break since the BBQ ended. We are already gearing back up for the school year and supporting students as they re-engage in their education. Cheers to another successful Back to School BBQ!