The Searcy High School (SHS)’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC) is hosting its annual fundraising event tomorrow at Citizen Park on West Arch Street, featuring a concert performed by local high school students. This will be its first fundraiser since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Mikayla Jones, president of YAC, said the organization wants to host an entertaining event that appeals to a broad audience, and because of previous popular outdoor concerts in the Searcy community, Searcy High and Crosspoint students Silas Carpenter, Lille Barden and Ryleigh Atkinson will perform from 6-8 p.m.
“When we discussed the artists that we wanted to perform, we wanted to invite artists that were already well known and respected in the Searcy community,” Jones said. “In our minds, they were the perfect candidates.”
Funds from the event — exclusively raised by ticket sales — along with funding from a grant, will be donated to three nonprofits in White County: 100 Families, Extra Myles Foundation and White County Domestic Violence, who were interviewed by YAC throughout the school year. The funds are planned, Jones said, to be distributed in May during YAC’s grant cycle, and YAC is proud and excited to financially support the nonprofits.
Part of YAC’s goal is to “make the community — the people who come to this concert — more aware of what they do and how they benefit the county,” Mitzie Cannon, a YAC sponsor, said. Between acts, a spokesperson for each nonprofit will explain the functions of each nonprofit in the community.
“Our goal is to help solve issues specifically affecting youth in the White County area,” YAC’s website says. “As a student-led program, we attempt to offer fresh perspectives to the nonprofits we work with, and support those we see making a positive difference in the lives of the youth in our area.”
An “offshoot” of White County Community Foundation, Jones said, YAC was at one time a partnership between Searcy High and Harding Academy, but Searcy High has taken over the organization’s responsibilities.
YAC secretary Chandler Meadows said YAC benefits the community in small but powerful ways through financial donations and by hosting events that reflect community-mindedness. Jones said she has seen YAC’s firsthand effects on the White County community, and her four years of being part of the organization has allowed her to meet and assist people she would not have helped without YAC.
“It is just so beautiful to witness these nonprofits at work,” Jones said. “And so just being a tiny part of those huge, incredible missions means the world to me.”
Tickets to the concert are $5 and may be purchased online at https://white-co-yac.square.site/ or at the door.
