The Family Crisis Center has special events planned for two nights this month in Great Bend. All proceeds will benefit the Family Crisis Center Inc. so it can continue to work with victims of domestic and sexual violence across western Kansas. For more information about signing up for these events contact staff at the Family Crisis Center office, 1924 Broadway Ave; call 620-793-9941; or visit the Family Crisis Center page on Facebook.
Bunco
The second-annual Red Shoes & Bunco Too event will take place from 6:30-10:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, at the Great Bend Knights of Columbus Hall, 723 Main Street.
The Bunco tournament starts at 7:30 p.m. with prizes for each team’s winner and other fun games throughout the night. Admission is $50 per person, which includes heavy hors-d'oeuvres and bunco play. Everyone who attends gets one free drink ticket, and those who wear red shoes earn a second free drink ticket.
This event also includes a silent auction with beautiful gently used name brand purses and clutches, and a raffle for a Louis Vuitton Phenix handbag. For those not attending the Bunco party, raffle tickets are also available at the Family Crisis Center or through the link on the Facebook page, said Joanne Wondra, executive director of the center.
Walk and Fun Night
The Family Crisis Center has also combined two events this year. The sixth-annual Walk A Mile In Her Shoes and Family Fun Night will both take place from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, April 26, on the north side of the Barton County Courthouse.
Family Fun Night will have three bounce houses, life-size Jenga and Kerplunk games, cotton candy, face painting, washable tattoos for kids and fun informational tables, all free to the public, Wondra said. There will also be vendors selling food.
Walk a Mile in Her Shoes (www.walkamileinhershoes.org) is an annual event sponsored by The International Men’s March to Stop Violence Against Women. It is open to men and boys only as the purpose is for them to demonstrate their desire to eliminate violence against women by walking a mile in women’s shoes. While they don’t literally walk a mile, they do wear red high-heeled shoes, which are available at the event in men’s sizes 9-16.
Registration is $150 per four-man team, people payable to: Family Crisis Center Inc. College and high school teams can register for $100. Each team member will receive a T-shirt.
Traffic on Broadway Avenue will be stopped on the north side of the courthouse as teams run relays in their red shoes.
“We will have the usual fun relays,” Wondra said. There will be awards for the fastest runners as well as the “most graceful.”
While the fundraisers are entertaining, they always have a serious message as they raise awareness about sexual and domestic violence. At the close of the relays, representatives from the Kansas Coalition of Sexual and Domestic Violence will present a dedication to two women in central Kansas who have died as a result of domestic violence or sexual assault: Alicia DeBolt, a Great Bend teenager murdered in 2010, and Susan Bagby, a former Kinsley resident who died in February 2014 in Oklahoma. There will be a moment of silence and a memorial walk.
