One of the Biggest Fireworks Shows in Idaho is Coming to Meridian
If you don’t have plans next Friday night, we’re about to make them for you!
Friday, September 8 is Scentsy’s 10th Annual Rock-A-Thon and this year, they’ve chosen an absolutely incredible beneficiary. Many people know the name Idaho Youth Ranch because of the thrift shops they have scattered across the Treasure Valley, but they are so much more than just a great place to go thrift shopping. Since 1953, they've been providing incredible resources like emergency shelter, residential care, youth and family therapy, job readiness training and adoption services for struggling kids and their families.
Last year, Idaho Youth Ranch was able to help 954 kids and teens heal and grow as they navigated some tough circumstances. That included providing homeless and runaway youth with 1,077 shelter days where they were somewhere where they felt safe and loved and 3,330 counseling sessions for kids and families dealing with loss, trauma and other adversity.
These young people have been through a lot. They experienced domestic violence, trauma, witnessed violent crime, were victims of sexual assault, struggled through severe illness or injury or had been in a serious accident. Idaho Youth Ranch explains that they’ve helped treat a wide range of diagnoses major depression, anxiety disorders, suicidal thoughts, drug/alcohol abuse, behavioral disorders and PTSD.
It’s easy to layout statistics for you, but we really encourage you to jump into Idaho Youth Ranch’s recap of 2022 and read the real stories of the kids they helped: Krissy, a 10-year-old who was experiencing crippling panic attacks after her parents divorced, Ethan, the “weird kid” that no one wanted to be friends with, Johnathon, a young man who struggled with anger issues and drug/alcohol abuse after spending much of his life in the foster system. Whether it was counseling, equine therapy or a stay at the Hays House while their families were homeless, the Idaho Youth Ranch connected these kids with resources to help them turn the corner and work toward a more positive life.
Now they have one more resource to help connect kids and families to what they need! Their new Residential Center for Healing & Resilience welcomed its first guest in August. The new facility gives kids 11-17 a home-like center where they can provide education and therapy together at the facility’s year-round charter school. The dorm-style lodging offers 64 beds and facilities where kids can connect with others going through similar experiences. It’s a huge resource for Idaho, because for treatment like this, often Idaho kids are being sent out of state. This facility keeps them close to their families, allowing the Idaho Youth Ranch to share what they're teaching the kids with the folks they go home to after treatment.
Obviously, to provide an incredible facility like that to our community, it takes a little money. The Residential Center for Healing & Resilience is where this year’s Rock-A-Thon funds will go! They will donate $250 per chair, per hour, for 12 hours as long as the chairs stay in motion! In order to do that, we need you to sit in a chair and rock. You can sign up to do so, HERE! If all the chairs stay rocking the entire time, that means Idaho Youth Ranch is getting $210,000 from Scentsy.
The opportunity to help doesn’t stop there. Scentsy is challenging the community to donate an additional $40,000 to the fundraiser! If you log on and find that all the chairs are full or you’re going to be out of town that weekend, you can contribute to the efforts by texting “Rock” to 208-252-6351.
They’ll also be accepting donations online or in person at the event, which runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. If you come in person, grab something to eat at the Food Truck Rally on Scentsy’s campus, because all of the vendors will donate a portion of the day’s sales to the cause.
Scentsy and Idaho Youth Ranch know that Rock-A-Thon is going to be a huge success this year because of generous people like you! That’s why they’ve planned one of the largest and most spectacular fireworks shows in the state to wrap everything up! The fireworks show is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. For more on Rock-A-Thon and to donate online click HERE!