Springfield Boys and Girls Club Marketing Director Sarah Gumaer joined hosts Chris Maza and Ryan Feyre on the latest episode of “So That Reminds Me.”
Reminder Publishing photo by Debbie Gardner
SPRINGFIELD — On the latest episode of “So That Reminds Me” hosts Chris Maza and Ryan Feyre sat down with Marketing Director Sarah Gumaer from the Springfield Boys and Girls Club to talk all about the club’s 25th Festival of Trees at the MassMutual Center, which returns this year from Nov. 28 through Dec. 14.
Gumaer explained that this year’s festival is going to include over 100 trees for people to try their hands at getting for the holiday season.
“You can buy raffle tickets to put into these trees and try to win them, they range anywhere from $200 to $2,000 in value depending on what people put on them, from local businesses to organizations, even individuals and families come up with that together,” she said.
Gumaer added that alongside the trees, there will be a 50/50 raffle and entertainment, including the Dan Kane singers, comedian juggler Bryson Lang, illusionist David Garrity and local finalist from “The Voice,” Madison Curbelo. All proceeds from the festival go directly to the Boys and Girls Club’s programs.
“The main focus of the Springfield Boys and Girls Club is to have a safe place for these kids to come after school or on days when the schools are closed, or early dismissals, just a place they can learn,” she said.
Gumaer also talked about how the funding for the programs will help kids at the Boys and Girls Club.
“It’s really great to see these kids find their paths, some of these kids don’t think they can go to college and then they come and we do college tours with them. We have a teen program, and I just see these kids becoming their own people during that time and a lot of them end up working their first jobs with the club,” she said.
In addition to the usual festivities, Gumaer said attendees will be able to purchase holiday cards with art created by kids at the club.
“They were very, very excited to even be thought of in that way, and it’s just great to support that in that way,” she said.
Gumaer said that the club would not be able to have the festival every year without its community partners.
“Everything we do depends on the community, from the tree owners to the cash sponsors, to the volunteers — we run off volunteers. We have a very small team that actually works and plans it … it’s just become an amazing thing to see how the community really gets involved with it,” she said.
She said that last year’s Festival of Trees raised over $315,000.
“I think this year the goal is to get past that,” Gumaer said.
Looking toward the future, Gumaer said the club is taking feedback and working with the community to raise money for the kids.
“Obviously seeing it grow would be great … but seeing what new things we could add. You want to stick with the basics that you know work that make everyone happy, but things grow and change, and that’s how it got to this point,” Gumaer said. “We kind of react to people as they come, we do a survey that people can take when they come in, they get to vote for their favorite tree, which we do a people’s choice award for. It tells us what people want, that’s the biggest thing for us, we want to give them what they want because that’s how we raise the money for the kids.”
Tickets are $6.75 for ages 13 and up, $5.75 for seniors ages 60 and up, while children under 12, active military, veterans, first responders and their families enter for free.
To listen to the full episode, head to thereminder.com/our podcast or search “So That Reminds Me” on your favorite platform to listen to podcasts on.
