The University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana Foundation will hold the 18th Annual Beads, Bags, and Bangles Kids’ College fundraiser presented by Farmers Bank & Trust on Thursday, February 27, 2025, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Hempstead Hall.

This year’s event theme is “Birthday Bash.” Celebrate UAHT’s 60th Birthday with us in style. Get ready to relive the joy of childhood birthdays—with a grown-up twist! This fun-filled evening will feature delicious food, festive drinks, carnival games, a silent auction, and plenty of dancing to music by DJ Stanley. Let your inner child out as you visit our Birthday Arcade Lane. Play Skee-ball and Plinko, to name a few exciting games. Don’t forget to buy a spot to play our Musical Chair-ity Challenge and join the fun while supporting a great cause! Come dressed in your best party attire—whether cocktail chic or casual fun, anything goes...just not your birthday suit!

As part of the fundraiser, the BBB Committee is selling tickets to win a beautiful 14-karat yellow gold 17-inch tennis necklace with a 3-carat lab-grown diamond valued at $6,200 donated by Alexander’s Jewelers. Tickets are $5 per ticket or $20 for five tickets. You need not be present to win. To purchase individual tickets, visit https://square.link/u/wu6J1PpZ. For a 5-ticket discount, visit https://square.link/u/a9NXFMQm. 

A dream vacation package worth $2,500 to the destination of your choice will also be raffled. Tickets are $100 each, and only 100 tickets will be sold. To purchase vacation package tickets, visit https://square.link/u/yGY1I3o4.

Proceeds raised at our 18th annual BBB event ensure we continue providing quality Kids’ College programming, supplies, and teachers to inspire young minds. With your help, Hempstead Hall will transform into a vast savannah as students embark on a Summer Safari of knowledge, personal growth, and development. A portion of funds also benefit programs for 6th through 8th-grade students like Camp Save-A-Life and Engineering and Manufacturing Camp of Creativity, providing children with valuable skills like learning how to “stop the bleed” and CPR and introducing them to a new world of robotics and computer coding. These programs are designed for students who will be in first through eighth grade.

For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Kelly Wilcox, UAHT Director of Institutional Advancement, at 870-722-8516 or kelly.wilcox@uaht.edu.