Support the Angel Fund at Bingo Feb. 8

You can be an angel this Valentine’s Day and bless children in the Hill City School District (HCSD) by playing bingo with the Hill City Lions Club (HCLC) Saturday, Feb. 8.
This year the HCLC Valentine’s Day Bingo is taking place at the Hill City Boys & Girls Club.
“Due to the overwhelming success of our bingo from the last time when it benefited the Angel Fund for the school, we wanted to have it someplace where we were able to fit more people ‘cause we didn’t want to turn anybody away,” said Lions Club president Stefanie Doaty.
Seventy-five percent of the bingo proceeds will go to support the HCSD’s Angel Fund, which is used to pay for negative account balances for student meals at the end of the school year.
Currently about a fifth of the students in the Hill City School District (HCSD) are eligible for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program (FRLP). Families submit applications to determine eligibility, and the funds come from the National School Lunch Program.
“There’s probably more, but they don’t necessarily fill out the form,” said HCSD business manager Cassandra Ott.
It is not all-inclusive either.
“Children who are eligible for free lunch are not eligible for free milk,” Ott said. “So if they have a milk at snack time, that’s not free. If they get an extra milk at lunch, that’s not free. So those add up over time.”
Some of the Angel Fund money goes to cover the cost of the milk for families on the FRLP.
“Then there’s families that are close, but they don’t quite qualify for free and reduced lunch. That’s the the other big cohort of people,” Ott said. “They filled out a form, but they’re just not quite there. They’ve shown an effort. They’ve shown that they are struggling, but they don’t quite meet the federal standards for that. So the rest of that money goes to those people.”
If a family is attempting to pay past due balances but is having a hard time doing so, Ott said the school will cover extra balances with Angel Fund money because the family is showing an effort.
Approximately, $7,000 to $8,000 is needed to cover the negative meal balances for students from kindergarten through 12th grade. This is handled through the HCSD administrative office, and Angel Fund money is distributed in May. That way families do not have to start the next school year with a negative balance due to hardship.
Ott said the HCSD will never deny a child food and no one will go hungry. Rather, the problem is the Food Service Fund for the school needs to be self-sufficient.
“By law, there’s very specific uses for that money and that is only to pay for school food basically,” said Ott. “If we don’t have Angel Fund money to keep it working, we wouldn’t necessarily be able to support a food service program.”
“This is an important program to keep the lunch program available. Some of the kids that are on the FRLP, I assume this is probably one of the only meals they get in the day. So if we didn’t have a lunch program, they wouldn’t eat. So it’s an important community thing,” Ott added.
“We are all about giving back to the community, and we couldn’t think of any place better than to give it to the students because they are our future, and we don’t want the families to have to worry about being able to pay for their children to eat,” Doaty said. “We want all the students to be able to not worry about if they’re going to be able to afford lunch.”
The other 25 percent of the bingo proceeds will go toward scholarships for the Leo Club seniors.
The Valentine’s Day Bingo will start with a meal at 5 p.m.
“As always our food is good will donation. So if you want to donate for the food, it’s not a set amount,” said Doaty. “It’s whatever people want to pay and whatever people think is fair.”
Doaty is looking for restaurants or businesses to sponsor dinner or to help with a main course, sides, desserts or anything else. She is also looking for bingo basket donations.
“We are asking for businesses or organizations to see if they would be able to donate baskets. The less money that the Lions Club puts out, that means the more money that can go into the Angel Fund,” said Doaty. “I do have some local businesses and some individuals and organizations who have donated some baskets. However, we are still in need of some other baskets and door prizes as well.”
The basket bingo will kick off at 6 p.m. with cards starting at $1 per card. A projector and screen will be set up so the bingo can be computerized like usual. There will be 10 games, including one blackout round. The grand prize is a Valentine’s Day related surprise and will be announced soon.
Attendees can also receive a free bingo card for bringing a recipe to submit to the HCLC cookbook project.
“We’re in desperate need of recipes for our cookbook. So for everybody that brings a recipe, we’re giving them just one free bingo card,” said Doaty.
The deadline for submitting recipes to the cookbook was extended until April 30.
As always, there will be a 50/50 raffle and door prizes at the bingo as well.
For every donation to the Hill City Food Pantry attendees will receive an extra door prize ticket. Recommended donations include personal hygiene products and non-perishable food items. Thus far, Doaty said the most popular donated items have been cereal and canned goods.
“We’ve been seeing a great response. We’re getting more and more food with each bingo, which is really good for the food pantry,” said Doaty.
Anyone who cannot attend the bingo can support the Angel Fund by stopping by the HCSD office at 488 Main Street or by mailing a check to P.O. Box 659 Hill City. Checks should be made out to the HCSD with Angel Fund in the memo.
“We hope we see a lot of people come out because it’s for an amazing cause for the school and for the students at the school,” said Doaty. “Just come on out for a good time and for some fun.”
For those interested in donating to the bingo, Doaty can be contacted at sdoaty@outlook.com or through the HCLC Facebook page.