Like most teens, the Mustang Youth Team loves adventure. They’re about to make memories that will last a lifetime. But first, they’ll host a last minute fundraiser.
What, where, when, why?
“We wanted to host Coffee with a Cop because we’re aware both departments are understaffed,” said Miya Gallagher. “We’re thankful for all their hard work to still get out and serve our community and want to say thank you.”
The youth team will be at the train depot on Saturday, Nov. 27, from 10 a.m. until noon. So will representatives from law enforcement.
According to the youth team’s flyer, there will be “no agenda or speeches, just a chance to ask questions, voice concerns and get to know the amazing officers that serve our community.”
Saturday, Nov. 27, is also the day shoppers pick up their Krispy Kreme donuts at the depot. The team has been selling them to raise money for their adventure. They’re hoping people linger for hot cocoa and conversation. Coffee is also on the menu.
They hope to raise enough last-minute funds to bring two more Mustangs to Washington D.C. to attend a national leadership conference.
“Right now we have enough funds for 11, and we have until Dec. 6 to book flights so we are trying to raise as much as possible by then to take more. The two new girls know they may not go this year but I’m going to try my hardest,” said Tina Gallagher, the club’s advisor and deputy director of the Frontier Community Coalition.
Gallagher will chaperone the D.C. trip for the second time. FCC director Wendy Nelsen may also come along.
In the fall of 2019, Gallagher started the Mustang Youth Team. She’s seen the membership through good times and bad. Numbers fluctuate but there are currently 14 members from the middle and high school.
They hope to guide their peers toward futures that do not include vaping, tobacco, alcohol, marijuana or controlled substances. They reach out not just to their schoolmates but to the entire town. The team meets with Gallagher at the depot every week.
Their faces look down from a billboard at the intersection of Main and Cornell, encouraging passersby to try a drug-free lifestyle. They installed a kindness box in front of the depot and stock it with canned goods. Anyone can take what they need, no questions asked and no judgments.
They’ve hosted crowds and fundraisers where hardly anyone shows up, not uncommon for Lovelock events. They ask for the community’s support.
The Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America (CADCA) will hold its leadership forum Jan. 30 through Feb. 4 at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, just outside of D.C.
The Mustangs attended their first conference in 2019. The next year’s event fell to Covid. It will be Miya Gallagher’s second time to visit the nation’s capital. She and several others have been with the group since its start. Others are new.
In 2019, the Mustangs took a tour of the White House and were present tor the impeachment vote, historically significant no matter your side of the fence.
Lilli Wagner will travel with the group for the first time.
“I’m excited about going to the conference and hearing all the different people and their perspectives. Also, the sights are beautiful and I feel like I will bond more with the group,” she said.
