Golden Drive, Lights Show Donate Over $2,000 to Youthworks
last year, they donated over $1,100
FARGO, N.D. — The Golden Drive makes its biggest donation yet from the Lights Show on Parkway Lane. The money will go toward helping runaway and homeless, at-risk youth in the metro.
But none of it would’ve been possible without the partnership that formed between the two just a few years ago.
As the founder of the Golden Drive, Sue Baron continues to live by the philosophy that kids are our greatest asset.
“Yet they’re the most vulnerable. They’re our future and we’re failing everywhere if we cannot help our children in need, our homeless kids especially. They are no different than a housed child. Although they are sick more often, they move more, there is a lot more than just not having a roof over their head when it comes to homelessness,” Baron said.
It’s the reason she’s dedicated her life to helping homeless youth and why she approached Jennifer Ebens two years ago.
“We love Christmas, we love Christmas lights. My husband is extremely intelligent when it comes to IT work, so he started putting together songs and we started making the display bigger and added more songs and took on a life of its own,” said Jennifer Ebens, creator of the Lights Show on Parkway Lane.
That even includes giving back. Ebens and her family partnered with the Golden Drive to raise over $1,100 for at-risk kids at Youthworks. This year, over $2,000 is being given to organization.
“Donations are huge and we don’t have the money to just go out and buy things. But it also shows, I think there’s such this stigma with at-risk youth that they feel unvalued. By Sue coming in every week or every month, it shows one, that we can meet their basic needs but secondly, that the community values at-risk youth,” said Ethan Hoepfner, Homeless Programs and Street Outreach manager at Youthworks.
The Golden Drive and Lights Show on Parkway Lane also donated winter gear and food to the kids. Two-hundred dollars was also donated to Aurora School in West Fargo so kids would have winter gear as well.
“When it comes to kids, I’m a mom so I think as a mom, it hits you right in the gut when you think about the kids who go without. My kids are blessed, they don’t want anything. When you think about the kids who don’t get anything for Christmas, it just broke my heart. You can’t ignore it,” Ebens said.
That’s exactly why she makes sure her kids continue to help children who don’t have much in the metro.
“There’s more to life than what you get. It’s what you give. I wanted my children to be part of it because I want them to grow up to be people who help and jump in and do what they can to make other people’s lives better,” Ebens said.
The Golden Drive isn’t done helping kids.
It’s putting on a food drive now through February.
You can donate by bringing any non-perishables to the West Fargo Fire Department.
