(ABOVE) Jim Anderson welcomes Fischer Theatre audience for the Balloons Over Vermilion – Festival of Trees Annual Community Impact Awards with co-hosts Santa Claus, DOug Ahrens, and Mrs. Claus behind him.
On Thursday (March 21st) morning it was time for the annual springtime Christmas Party at the Fischer Theatre, where the money spent at the previous year’s Balloons Over Vermilion and Festival of Trees events is donated to area organizations through Community Impact Grants. As always, Santa and Mrs. Claus were there.
The program also included last year’s 3rd grade Student Ambassador Class for Balloons Over Vermilion being honored, as their teacher from Schlarman Academy Shelley Erickson took the mike and reminisced. At the end of the program, this year’s Student Ambassador Class was announced: Tiffany Johnson’s Fourth Grade class from Oakwood Grade School.
But in between, 19 different organizations received financial grants to help them continue to serve the community in their unique ways. Balloons Over Vermilion’s Jim Anderson says it’s not BOV that makes this even better every year, it’s the Vermilion County community.
(1st Picture) Program co-host Doug Ahrens addresses the Fischer Theatre crowd. (3rd Picture) Schlarman Academy teacher Shelley Erickson recalls her third graders being last year’s BOV Student Ambassador Class.
Audio PlayerAUDIO: I’ll tell you, it’s the community that tries to top it every year. And we just continue to be so thankful for their support. We’re going to announce some numbers this morning to 19 different agencies. But I think the drumroll number that we’re going to share with the community is that with today’s awards, we will be at $534,700 that we have provided to community groups over the past seven years, as a result of the community’s support.
And doing the math, that comes out to just over $76,385.71 per year in community award donations; from dollars spent by the community and out-of-town visitors at Balloons Over Vermilion and Festival of Trees.
We should also mention that, yes, Anderson’s fellow Balloons Over Vermilion leader Pat O’Shaughnessy was in Florida during the event, and Anderson shared with the audience the reason why. You may recall last year’s story how O’Shaughnessy was planning to donate a kidney to family friend Perry Hess. But as it turned out, he had to have a tumor removed that was discovered on O’Shaughnessy’s own kidney. Efforts continued to find a doner for Perry Hess, and Anderson informed the Fischer Theatre audience that a donor was indeed found, and a successful transplant has been completed.
THE FOLLOWING IS A BALLOONS OVER VERMILION RELEASE
In 2023, Balloons Over Vermilion NFP, launched its seventh year of presenting the summer’s hottest festival, as well as presenting for the third year Vermilion County’s holiday kickoff event, the Festival of Trees! We are extremely proud of all the wonderful contributions that these events bring to the community throughout the year.
These events are made possible each year through the hard work of a team of dedicated steering committee members, the generous support of hundreds of sponsors and hundreds of volunteers. “We continue to be amazed at the outpouring of support received each year for these two events. While Vermilion County’s love affair with hot air ballooning began back in the 1980’s, the Festival of Trees will be celebrating its 27th anniversary in 2024. Every year our community steps up and turns out for these wonderful family events and we sincerely appreciate our patrons.
Everyone who buys a ticket, enjoys a snow cone or a beer, strolls through the decorated trees, visits the Festival raffle house or brings their family out to witness the splendor of a balloon launch and glow, all become members of our Balloons Over Vermilion family,” stated Jim Anderson, Balloons Over Vermilion NFP Board Vice Chair. “The support these events receive from everyone involved only grows stronger each year. We are excited to announce today that the total of Community Impact Awards presented over the last seven years has surpassed $500,000!” he added.
2024 Balloons Over Vermilion, NFP Impact Award Recipients
⦁ Balloon Federation of America – Provide summer camp scholarships for aspiring young pilots – contact Dean Carlton (217-304-2365) – Grant of $1500
⦁ Schlarman Academy – Our 2023 Student Ambassador Class – contact Shelly Erickson– (217-442-2725) – Grant of $2500
⦁ Keep Vermilion County Beautiful – Purchase collection equipment and youth outreach activities – contact Brenda Adams (217-304-7541- Grant of $2000
⦁ Birth to Five Illinois – Provide support for outreach efforts to inform new/young families of social service support network in place in Vermilion County – contact Tammy Pollitt – (309-393-2503) – Grant of $1000
⦁ Danville Municipal Band – Provide support for family quality of life events / recruit young band members – contact Dave Schroeder – Grant of $2000
⦁ Vermilion Valley Fellowship of Christian Athletes – Provide support for camps, devotional materials, special events – contact Brian Carpenter (217-778-9615) – Grant of $2500
⦁ Westville Santas Anonymous – Provide support for 2024 fund drive – contact Darlene Oakes (217-597-1021) – Grant of $3000
⦁ Danville AMBUCs – Provide support for new Super Soccer program – contact Diane Carlton (309-657-3211) – Grant of $4000
⦁ Fair Hope Children’s Ministry – Provide support for underclothing, shoes, general inventory – contact Karel Volpert (217-474-1357) – Grant of $5500
⦁ Vermilion County War Museum – Provide support to restart student tours and construct new youth area – contact Larry Weatherford (217-474-7256) – Grant of $6000
⦁ United Way of Danville Area, Inc.- Provide support for Dolly Parton Imagination Library – contact Angie Lazzell (217-442-3512) – Grant of $6000
⦁ American Legion Youth Baseball – Provide support for new field equipment and a fee waiver program – contact Brian Hensgen (217-304-2716) – Grant of $6000
⦁ STEP Recovery Center – Provide support for construction of new teen activity space – contact Wendy Lambert (217-597-9653) – Grant of $5000
⦁ Oakwood Grade School – Provide support for new playground equipment – contact Nicole Lapenas (217-354-4221) – Grant of $6000
⦁ Winterview Youth League – Provide support for new heavy duty trash collection equipment – contact Taryn Owens – Grant of $6000
⦁ Oakwood Area Food Pantry – Provide support for Bags of Hope food program – contact Heather McArty (217-497-2232) – Grant of $6000
⦁ Project Success of Vermilion County, Inc. – Provide support for extended program hours – contact Kimberly David (217-822-2580) – Grant of $7500
⦁ Roxy’s House – Provide support for speech/autism therapy program along with animal upkeep – contact Roxy Reed (217-369-4496) – Grant of $7500
⦁ OSF Sacred Heart Medical Center – Provide support for 4th floor renovation projects – contact Debbie Michenfelder (217-442-6595) – Grant of $20000
Anderson stated, “Both events owe a huge thank you to Julius W. Hegeler II. His vision of what his hometown could be inspires us even today.”
After the presentation of all grant recipients, Jaclyn Vinson, Balloons Over Vermilion Event Co-Chair and Board member introduced the 2024 Host Student Ambassador class; Ms. Tiffany Johnson’s 4th graders from Oakwood Grade School.
The final presentation of the event was the announcement of the establishment of the Ron Crick Memorial Scholarship at DACC. Crick was the original Event Coordinator when Oldsmobile Balloon Classic Illinois was first brought to Vermilion County in 1986, and remained in that capacity until the event ceased operation in 2001. Anderson stated, “Ron’s enthusiasm and creativity were the hallmarks of our first hot air balloon event.
His organizational skills were unmatched, and as a result the event became nationally known across the pilot community and attracted tens of thousands of patrons to the airport each year. Many of the volunteers working on the Balloons Over Vermilion event today cut their teeth working with Ron,” added Anderson. A check in the mount of $20000 was presented to Ryan O’Shaughnessy, Board Chair of the DACC Foundation.
