Sands joins the fight to save Boys & Girls Club

For the past three months, Mat Sands has been raising money for Oakhurst's Boys & Girls Club

By Elizabeth Gabriel

(Updated: Thursday, July 10, 2008, 10:47 AM)

"I'm no stranger to fundraising," Mat Sands said.

This season, he's raising money for the Boys & Girls Club of Oakhurst by running for Oakhurst honorary mayor. When he was young --1983 to 1984 -- he was a poster boy and helped raise millions of dollars for the Arthritis Foundation in Southern California, he said.

It's doubtful he'll come up with that much money for the Boys & Girls Club, but he has been campaigning hard. Each dollar donated to his campaign counts as a vote. The winner of the race gets to be Oakhurst honorary mayor for a year, and the charity he or she represented gets the money. It's a win-win thing.

The other candidates in the race are Laura Bean, running to help build an adoption and care facility for the Eastern Madera County SPCA and Jackie Orpe, running for Helping Hands pregnancy and parenting center.

In Sands' quest for the honorary honor, he has done the ubiquitous tri-tip dinners, participated in the premiere of the new "Indiana Jones" movie, thrown a luau at Sierra Sky Ranch, had special promotions at local restaurants, done a car wash, had a bowling night and played bingo -- and that's just the tip of the list. His last big event is Saturday.

Tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., he and his supporters will be at Oakhurst Community Park in their spiffy, white Mat for Mayor T-shirts (available for purchase) for Kids Day in the Park.

The day is all about the kids, but Sands said the adults can have a ball, too.

There will be games with toys as prizes, vendors, food and a silent auction that includes an STI package for DSL service and a day of fishing at Bass Lake for a family of four. Entry is free, but there will be a charge -- Sands said it will be minimal -- for the games and of course the food and auction.

The 29-year-old entrepreneur is single, owns Oakhurst Online and is general manager of Oakhurst Computers, both of which have promoted the club in the past.

He said he got into the race -- thanks to Boys & Girls Club board member Rima Runtzel -- in a somewhat offhand manner.

"I was talking to Rima one day and just mentioned I might consider being a candidate," Sands said.

It wasn't long before she took him up on the offer.

The club is in serious trouble. It was closed Feb. 1 after operating since 1997, but Runtzel said she is confident the club will reopen. And to do that, it needs money. In May, the board set a goal of $75,000 in the bank by Nov. 1 and decided to increase membership fees from $10 per child per year to $20 per child per month.

Sands' run for honorary mayor is helping with the former.

"Mat has been extremely active," Runtzel said. "He is spreading the word about how important the club is to the community. I'm certain that whether or not he wins the race, he will continue to support our efforts."

Sands said one of his favorite fundraisers during the campaign was the West Side Board Shop skateboarding day at the club, reopened only for the event.

"I talked to lots of kids who belong to the club," Sands said. "They were very excited to be back. The smiles on their faces were inspiring."

He said one of the reasons he embarked on the campaign is that he knows what it's like to have nothing to do after school. Sands is a 1997 graduate of Yosemite High School.

"We didn't have any place to go. We'd hang out at the park or sit around at McDonald's. It would be a shame to see the club go to waste. There are many great educational programs."

Runtzel agrees. "The Boys & Girls Club of Oakhurst is a nonprofit youth development organization dedicated to promoting the educational, vocational, health leadership and character of boys and girls in a safe, nurturing environment," she said. "The club provides more than a safe, fun and constructive alternative to being home alone, it offers a variety of award-winning developmental programs to help youth build skills, self-esteem and values during critical periods of growth."

Sands summed up his feelings for the club this way: "This club belongs to the community and we need to support it."