Boys and Girls Club celebrates 20 years with strawberry shortcake festival

Community members chewed through 5,000 gobs of whipped cream atop piles of strawberry-laden sponge cakes Thursday afternoon as part of the 20th Annual Bloomington Strawberry Shortcake Festival on the lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse. \nDozens of community organizations donated their time, money, supplies and other edible goods to the event sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington Auxiliary. According to Auxiliary volunteers, about $15,000 in Bloomington Strawberry Shortcake Festival proceeds will benefit the local branch of the Boys and Girls Club that serves community children ages six to 18 in need of fostering and guidance.\n"It definitely opens your eyes when you go into the Boys and Girls Club and see the faces of the kids," said Bloomington resident and Auxiliary member Carol Stanton. "Auxiliary members work at different club events and when you see the kids you see their need. When we go home and see our own kids we are thankful because at least they have us in their lives."\nThe Auxiliary is composed of 55 female community members who serve five-year terms that include volunteering at fund raising events for the Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington, according to Auxiliary members. Stanton said 500 strawberry shortcakes were sold during the first city festival but this year they dished out an easy 5,000 cakes by the close of the event with only minutes to spare. \n"A lot of people come just for the shortcakes because they are so buttery and moist," Stanton said. "When the juice from the strawberries hits the cake and sinks in, it's to die for."\nMartinsville resident and retired second-grade teacher Leslie Modesitt said she stopped by the Strawberry Shortcake Festival, an event she has attended numerous times, to munch on the dessert between errands that included a trip to College Mall. She said Martinsville does not yet have a citywide Boys and Girls Club so the only community fundraising event she looks forward to is the city's annual fish fry in June that benefits the Senior Citizen and Men's Club.\n"I wouldn't pay four dollars for a strawberry shortcake every day, but the money goes for a good cause," Modesitt said while seated alone on the southwest courthouse steps. "During my teaching career I noticed the students in most need often came from split families where there is often no one left to care for the child. Raising a child is often difficult for single parents and grandparents, although most do a great job."\nAuxiliary members thanked the Hoosier Hills Career Center for donating the shortcakes, Bruster's for offering the ice cream, Beasley Produce for sharing the strawberries, Jiffy Treet and Dairy Queen for passing on the whipped cream, McDonald's and Town and Country Realty for gas money and the Chocolate Moose for bagging the cost of ice, among other donating community businesses and organizations. \nAll the Boys and Girls Club programs are designed to help youth develop valuable skills needed to make wise life decisions, according to the organization's Web site. The club strives to instill a sense of belonging, competence, usefulness and power so members feel they are part of something worthwhile.\nBloomington resident and local magician for 40 years running Jon Saint-Germain, director of amazement for New Millennium Entertainment, was on-hand Thursday to offer more than money for the Strawberry Shortcake Festival visitors. He offered community members young and old the balloon-figure of their choice and other magic tricks for free before and after folks ate. \n"I came to the festival last year and I saw a lot of people waiting in line so I thought I would donate my time this year so people have something to do, and I could make new friends," Saint-Germain said. "I like to give back to the community and volunteer for fund-raisers like this. Very few people get to do what they want as their dream. I get satisfaction out of the look in peoples' eyes when I do some amazing magic or make an amazing balloon animal."\nBy the end of the festival Saint-Germain made hundreds of balloon zoo animals, Disney characters and other cartoon-like shapes. The last strawberry shortcake was sold moments before a brief hail-riddled rain shower cleared the courthouse lawn of the festive atmosphere.\nStanton said she had read several media reports that claim Martinsville and Mooresville children in need might soon have a Boys and Girls Club of their own to call a safe place when times are tough at home, and they need positive role models in their life who can help them seek positive activities void of peer pressure. She encouraged local responsible community members to lend a hand in volunteering their time or money to provide an example for children that might set them off on a better course of behavior that will last their lifetime.\n"Being a positive role model for children is important," she said. "They need to see other lifestyles that are positive. Children often seek guidance from positive role models and answers to questions they might not get otherwise like at home"