Balloon Fest Organizers Announce Student Helpers, Grants
DANVILLE – Balloons Over Vermilion co-chair Pat O’Shaughnessy announced Friday morning the recipients of six grants totaling $24,700.
He also announced the next group of fourth-graders who will serve as this year’s student ambassadors at the 2020 ballooning event.
The six community and school groups that were awarded impact grants Friday for projects and programs benefiting local children and teens were: $2,500 to Southwest Elementary School in Tilton where Michelle Esteppe’s third-grade class served as student ambassadors last year; $2,200 for Danville High School’s foreign language department; $2,500 to Salt Fork High School students; $2,500 for Georgetown’s accessible playground for everyone; $5,000 for the Children’s Dyslexia Center of East Central Illinois in Danville; and $10,000 for Danville AMBUCS.
A total of 33 students, which combines two fourth-grade classes at Rossville-Alvin Elementary School, were named as this year’s student ambassadors. The fourth-graders teachers are Tia Petersen and Tammy Harper.
The young ambassadors will learn about ballooning first hand and help brainstorm ideas for activities they would like to see in the Kids’ Zone area at the annual balloon festival, which is set for July 10 and 11 at the Vermilion County Regional Airport.
Cassie Keister, media/marketing chair for Balloons Over Vermilion, said Petersen was the Bismarck-Henning teacher whose class was the first to be named student ambassadors for the inaugural event in 2016. Since then, Petersen transferred to Rossville-Alvin Elementary School.
Although Petersen, Harper and their students couldn’t attend Friday’s kickoff, Rossville-Alvin Superintendent Crystal Johnson said, “We feel blessed to have this opportunity for Rossville and Alvin kids.”
Members of the Balloons Over Vermilion steering committee surprised the Rossville-Alvin students earlier in the week and invited them to be student ambassadors.
“The adults were just as excited as the kids,” Johnson said. “Twenty years from now it will be something they’ll still be talking about, and hopefully it will inspire them to volunteer in their community when they’re older.”
O’Shaughnessy told the crowd of community members gathered Friday at the Vermilion County Museum that he was pleased to be involved again with Balloons Over Vermilion, which marks its fifth year in 2020.
He recognized the late Julius Hegeler and his foundation for helping to resurrect a balloon festival in Danville years after the Balloon Classic ended.
“We didn’t have a balloon event for 15 years,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Julius stepped up and sponsored $100,000 over the first five years.
“When we would tell people ‘Julius is on board,’ other sponsors signed on,” he said. “We will always be indebted to Julius for his love of his community and especially his love of kids.”
In just four years, Balloons Over Vermilion has grown and experienced record-setting attendance at last year’s event.
“24,000 came through the gates and, of those, 11,000 were kids,” O’Shaughnessy said.
In addition, Balloons Over Vermilion has donated nearly $65,000 to schools and community groups that work to better the lives of area children and teens.
“It’s great to be able to give back to the community,” O’Shaughnessy said.
Southwest Elementary School Principal Lindsey Prunkard, who had one of her third-grade classes serve as 2019 student ambassadors, said the $2,500 grant from Balloons Over Vermilion would “fund the Starlab for the next two years.” The Starlab is a traveling planetarium.
The Danville High School Foreign Language Department, who helped direct parking on the opening day of the balloon festival last year, received a $2,200 grant. Spanish teacher Jenny Long said the grant would be used to help offset the cost of a student trip in June to Germany, France and Spain.
Salt Fork High School, whose football team helped direct parking on the second day of the balloon festival, received a $2,500 grant that already was used to purchase needed new equipment, including footballs, practice jerseys, knee pads and other items.
Georgetown Mayor Darin Readnour and Lions Club member Mike Scott accepted a $2,500 grant for the Georgetown Accessible Playground for Everyone. The relatively new project will fill the need for a playground for everyone in the southern part of Vermilion County and create a year-round family destination.
The Children’s Dyslexia Center of East Central Illinois in Danville received a $5,000 grant that will be used to purchase grade-level books to assist early learners. The center now identifies and assists children at earlier ages so they can achieve greater success rates.
Danville AMBUCS received a $10,000 grant that will be used to renovate the AMBUCS’ Winter Park Playground for Everyone. The work is expected to be completed in the summer of 2021 to coincide with the park’s 20th anniversary.
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