Hillsdale’s Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness organization is hosting its fifth annual Children’s Charity Ball at Hillsdale College’s Searle Center on Saturday, Feb. 15.
For the past five years, CAPA has hosted a ball with a specific topic in mind to raise awareness and money for the organization. This year, the ball will focus on childhood trauma.
“Every year the charity ball picks a form of child abuse and neglect,” said CAPA Executive Director Christie Campbell. “We’ve done safe sleep, shaking babies, sexual abuse, and human trafficking. This year, the topic is surviving childhood trauma.”
There are raffle tickets for sale at $20 for one ticket or $50 for three tickets, and the cost for a single person to attend the ball is $60 for a single and $100 for a couple. The doors open at 6 p.m., and those who purchase raffle tickets are not required to attend the event. The first prize winner of the raffle will receive a $2,000 vacation voucher, the second prize winner a gun safe, and the third prize winner an entertainment package.
Ball chair Megan Steberson said the ball has been popular from the start.
“The ball response has been fantastic since year one,” she said. “We moved over to the Searle Center last year, and the venue is perfect for us and would allow us at some point to sell up to 500 tickets.”
Campbell said the ball started in memory of Trey Bowman, a child who died from abuse. His parents were speakers at the first ball. The ball now centers around the story of Asher, who survived trauma after being a foster kid before he was adopted. His adoptive parents Brian and Jessica Stroble and therapist Shelly Woertink will be speaking about Asher’s experience.
“Their story is going to be about the things that happened to him,” Steberson said, “but more importantly how childhood trauma, even infant trauma, has affected him as he’s grown up, and what parents and foster parents have to deal with and the supports that they may need to get them through a situation like this.”
Campbell said the ball is a way to not only raise money but also to “bring awareness to Hillsdale County.”
“We’re very thankful to all of our sponsors and donors and our community for all their support for not only the ball but everything we do in the community,” Campbell said.