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EDWARDSVILLE/GLEN CARBON - On Feb. 22, 2024, the Autism Clinic at Hope invites you to “play with purpose” and enjoy ten rounds of glow-in-the-dark bingo to help fund the programs sponsored through Hope.
With over $1,000 in cash prizes available and a glow hat included with every ticket, the night promises to be a fun way to help out. Jodi Ogilvy, Chief Communications and Development Officer at Hope, explained that the organization is expanding, with plans to offer more programs and clinics in the future. The fundraiser will help them to do this.
“Being a nonprofit, it’s difficult to really have the funds to expand as quickly as we need to,” Ogilvy said. “But that’s where some of these fundraising events that we have come into play. It helps us to further our mission more and to meet the needs in the communities that we serve.”
Located at the Moose Lodge in Edwardsville, the fundraiser invites attendees to play bingo with a glow-in-the-dark dabber. Participants are encouraged to wear neon clothing and other fun accessories that will glow under a blacklight. There will be ten rounds of bingo and games in between rounds, and you can win prizes and enjoy a cash bar.
Doors open at 5 p.m. and bingo starts at 6 p.m. Tickets include six bingo cards and cost $25 in advance or $30 at the door. You can buy tickets online at the official Hope website at TheAutismClinic.org. Attendees must be 18 or older and there will be a cash bar.
Ogilvy explained that these fundraisers allow Hope to expand their reach to more communities. The Autism Clinic at Hope provides Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for young kids, and they also have resources for parents and educators. Headquartered in Springfield, Illinois, the organization has clinics throughout the Midwest, including in Glen Carbon.
“Our autism clinics are what are growing the fastest because there is such a need for services for children with autism and other developmental disabilities. We have a school now in Edwardsville too, and we actually just opened up the high school portion of that as well. So we're very excited to be adding more services,” Ogilvy said. “We’re very excited to be expanding more in that area and to really just get our name out into the community.”
She noted that the clinics always have waitlists of people who are eager to utilize their services, which demonstrates the need. Through fundraisers like the glo-bingo event, the organization hopes to engage with more communities in the future.
“I love my job so much because yes, we work very hard, yes, there’s hard days, but it’s so easy to see the impact that we have and the impact of the mission on those we serve,” Ogilvy added. “We also have a lot of fun, because where else do you get to go and play glo-bingo with your coworkers and have fun and meet all the people in the community that we help to serve? To me, there’s just nothing better than that.”
For more information about the Autism Clinic at Hope and their glo-bingo fundraiser, visit TheAutismClinic.org or the official Facebook event page.
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