MAYC Madness is Coming! But what is MAYC?
- director3445
- Feb 24
- 6 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
You can get U of I tickets, memorabilia or a great vacation – while also giving Mahomet kids a healthy place to go after school. An interview with the staff of the Mahomet Area Youth Club.
On Saturday, March 7th Mahomet residents and supporters from around the area will descend on the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign to eat, drink, dance and bid on auction items – all to support MAYC – the Mahomet Area Youth Club. This annual event often draws over 200 people and is the biggest fundraiser of the year for MAYC. Tickets can be purchased at http://bidpal.net/maycmadnessroundtwo.
But what is MAYC – and how does it benefit our community? We sat down with MAYC Executive Director Brii Buchanan and Program Director Hannah Frank to talk about everything MAYC does to support the youth of Mahomet.
Everything Mahomet: Let’s start at the beginning. What does MAYC do?
Brii: We're an after school/out of school program in Mahomet and Seymour area. We focus on violence prevention and social and emotional learning. We offer a structured program after school and out of school. It can be arts and craft, violence prevention, social and emotional learning, field trips, anything that you can think of. We just try to keep it to where students are able to get some after school activities and structured programs so that they learn more out of school rather than being alone at home or out loose in the community.
Everything Mahomet: So you offer a place for youth to be after school, or on school breaks? How many kids do you serve?
Brii: Yes. We have 20-25 after schools most days, 25-35 over winter break, spring break usually 30-40, and then summer its usually 100 to 120 kids. We always have room for more.
Everything Mahomet: That’s a big program over the summer! How old are the kids you serve, and how do they get from school to MAYC after school?
Brii: 5 years old up to 18 year olds. Kids from the elementary schools are bussed to the facility by the schools, and then we pick up the teens, or if they want to walk they’re more than welcome to walk.
Everything Mahomet: Tell me about the facility you are in.
Brii: It used to be a church. We're in a very residential area, a few blocks away from the junior high. I'd say it's a big enough facility for the kids that we offer now, but we would love to be in a more visible area. Lots of people have lived here for years and still don’t know where we are because the facility just isn’t very visible.
Hannah: It’s right next to a bunch of houses, so its pretty secluded.
Everything Mahomet: What does it cost for students to be at MAYC, and is there financial assistance available?
Brii: After school, we charge $24/day for the days that they attend, and then out of school is $28/day. Again, we just charge for the days that they actually attend. For those who need financial assistance, we have CCRS ( Child Care Resource Service) through the state. And then we have financial scholarships if they do not qualify for CCRS. We provide those on a case-by-case basis if they don’t qualify for CCRS.
Everything Mahomet: What percentage of your kids get some kind of financial assistance?
Brii: 40 -60%
Everything Mahomet: And you say you have room to host more kids? Even in the summer, when you have 100 to 120.
Hannah: We don’t have 110 every day, but it can range 60-70 yeah. Later in the summer, we often have more space, so we put people on a waitlist and call them when more space becomes available.
Everything Mahomet: Where would a lot of these kids be if MAYC wasn’t available?
Brii: Sometimes, kids could be on the streets. Not doing anything crazy bad, but just not behaving a lot of times, possibly being in the wrong crowd, or students could just be at home on their on their tablets. When they’re home alone, they’re just not engaging with other students. We want to make sure that they're in the community getting interaction. My goal at least is if they decide to go to college or go out in the community, or even just be in the real world, that they are able to have good interaction skills and good social and emotional learning skills, so that they feel comfortable and don't feel behind.
Everything Mahomet: So tell me about your backgrounds. Hannah, why don’t you start?
Hannah: So I’ve worked at MAYC for five years. I started when I was a sophomore in high school, and I've slowly made my way up . I started out as a CIT, that’s a counselor in training and now I'm the program director. I currently am going to school to get my bachelor’s in psychology. I want to be a behavioral technician and work with kids who have behavioral problem. That’s why I love MAYC, because you get to grow and be close with the kids and help them, be a safe space for them.
Everything Mahomet: Where are you studying, Hannah?.
Hannah: I am currently at Parkland, and this fall I am moving to Eastern.
Everything Mahomet: Brii, tell us a bit about your background.
Brii: I’ve been at a non-profit for the last six years, seven years. My last job was a site coordinator I worked at Project Success in Danville, Illinois. I pretty much did the same thing, but in the Danville area. We focused on violence prevention, social and emotional learning. Obviously in the Danville , that's more of a low-income area, so it was 100% violence prevention. I loved what I did. I really enjoyed it. It was all youth. It was K through fourth grade, so when I decided to move on to something different. I wanted to do more admin work. I love non-profits. I wanted to just continue what I was doing, but I wanted to get more of the back room work so I could grow in the non-profit world. MAYC was a good opportunity for me.
Everything Mahomet: Brii, what’s the best part of working at MAYC?
Brii: The impact. I do love working with kids, and I love the impact that you can make. I think it definitely shows how much kids look up to you, where you go to work and the kids are like “oh, I'm so happy to see!” You could be having a really bad day, then you go to work, and the kids are so happy to see you. It just makes my whole entire day.
Everything Mahomet: Hannah, what is your favorite part of working at MAYC?
Hannah: I love working with kids. I love the interaction with them, getting to watch them grow up in this world. Seeing how I can impact them and how I change the way they are. Ad how they behave. One thing I also love is hearing that they think about me when I'm not there. Or when they see me in public outside of MAYC and they get excited.
Everything Mahomet: All right, now how about telling me about this event you have on March 7th.
Brii: Its our annual auction. It's at the Hilton Garden in Champaign. Doors open at 5 p.m. The theme is Macy Madness. It plays on March Madness. Food, free drinks, open bar. It's a great time. We always have a lot of fun.
We’ll have 80 silent auction items, 10 live auction items. We're hoping to get some U of I players to come in, just hang out with the crowd.
Hannah: We encourage the attendees to wear sports gear, and they we have a contest to see who we think dressed up most for the event. Really, people can dress anyway they want to be comfortable, but a lot of people do follow the theme.
Everything Mahomet: So there are still tickets available?
Brii: Yes. We love people to sign up early, it helps us give a number to the hotel, but a lot of people sign up as late as the day before. We are just happy to have them there.
Everything Mahomet: So you said this is your biggest fundraiser of the year? How much do you make, and what is it used for?
Brii: Last year we it was 65,000 or 68,000. Some of it will be used for facility upgrades. Last year, thanks to the auction, we did a lot of improving the building. We did a complete renovation of the inside, with $20,000 worth of flooring and painting. It looks much nicer in here. We would also use funds to improve our retention rate, get curriculum or do more field trips.
Everything Mahomet: Are there other ways to support MAYC and this event, if people cannot attend on March 7th?
Brii: They can buy a ticket just to take part in the silent auction, or just go to our website at https://mahometyouth.org to donate or volunteer.
Everything Mahomet: Thanks so much for talking with us today, Brii and Hannah! MAYC Madness sounds like a lot of fun, and I hope lots of people will attend.
MAYC Madness Annual Auction and Dinner
Saturday, March 7th
Hilton Garden Inn
1501 S Neil St, Champaign, IL 61820
For Tickets: https://mahometyouth.org/auction/ Use code “Round Two Discount” for a discount on tickets
