
Dinner with Friends
Dinner with Friends is the premier corporate fundraising event for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties!
Thank you to everyone who attended our 2022 Dinner with Friends event. Together, we raised more than $500,000 for youth in our community!
Our 2022 event is all wrapped up, but the moments we shared will stay with us for years to come. It was an incredible and inspiring evening as we heard about the power of the Boys & Girls Club from our celebrity guest: Club alum and Emmy winner Mario Lopez!
Special thank you to our major sponsors for making our 2022 event so special: Cornerstone Wealth Strategies, Henning Automotive Holdings, Phase 2 Electric, CRF Metal Works, and Amazon. And thank you to our outstanding emcee and auctioneer Gee Scott!
To everyone who supported this year’s event, thank you! Your investment in Clubs helps us empower local kids and teens to reach their full potential every day.
See photos from our 2022 event below!
Want to relive our 2022 event, or want to see what happened? Watch a full video recording of our 2022 Dinner with Friends.
Want to attend our 2023 Dinner with Friends?
Email Meggan Tjarks, Special Events and Volunteer Director at meggan.tjarks@greatclubs.org to learn more about sponsorship opportunities. We can’t wait to see you next year!
About Dinner with Friends
Each year, we welcome a well-known Club Alumni or supporter as our special keynote speaker. Past year’s guests include Shawn White, K.J. Wright, Evander Holyfield, Gary Payton, and more! In 2022, we welcomed Actor, Emmy winning TV Host, and Club Alumnus Mario Lopez as our celebrity guest!
Mario Lopez has a career in entertainment that spans over three decades across a variety of media, including television, film, radio, print, and theater. Lopez won two Emmys as host of “Extra” before joining “Access Hollywood” in 2019. He is also a New York Times best-selling author with his guide to healthy eating, “Extra Lean.” A former member of the Chula Vista Boys & Girls Club, Lopez is now the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Alumni Ambassador of Fitness. He helps bring to light issues that affect today’s youth, highlighting the importance of graduating from high school and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
In addition to hearing from a different celebrity guest each year, we also hold an exciting live and silent auction for all guests to participate in. Proceeds from this event are dedicated to supporting the 2,500+ youth served annually at local Boys & Girls Clubs.
