Even though the Montgomery County High School prom is not scheduled until the spring, the Project Prom group is getting a jump start in raising money to provide a safe after-prom activity for the students.

The 12-member group has been holding fundraisers to raise money that would help the students go to the after-prom event at the Main Event, which is a venue in Chesterfield that has bowling, laser tag, an arcade and a restaurant, in April.

The group includes Roxanne Sellenriek, Denise Rakers, Carla Parker, Angela Wessel, Mary Pottebaum, Christina Meyer, Julie Beck, Annette Bender, Ashley Spurgeon and Hillary Benney.

“It’s a great group of moms who really want to make it fun for the kids and try to do different things that we used to do because it’s been around for 30 years,” Sellenriek said. “We got a lot of good moms this year. One of them has young kids and is coming up and trying to help out.”

The Project Prom group held a Chuck-A-Duck contest, which is a 50-50 drawing, during halftime of both Montgomery County Middle School seventh and eighth-grade girls basketball games on Nov. 7.

“You chuck a duck at a target and the closest duck to the target wins the 50-50,” Sellenriek said. “We encourage people to take their 50-50 part. We don’t want to have everybody donate it back because that’s not the goal of it. We want to have fun with the people at the basketball games and do something entertaining. They have a chance to win some money and we have a chance to raise some money.”

Sellenriek said the group started doing a Chuck-A-Duck contest as one of its fundraisers last year.

“People really thought it was fun,” she said. “So we adopted it as an easy fundraiser.”

On Dec. 13, the Project Prom group will host a soup and chili dinner and a live dessert auction before the MCHS boys basketball game against Silex at Ballew & Snell Court. The following day, it plans to take donations at the 4-way stop in Montgomery City.

The group has been having fundraisers since October. During the MCHS football game against Mark Twain on Oct. 4, it sold funnel cakes that were made by Joe Elfrink for $10 each.

“It costs so much, so we have to raise money as much as we can,” Sellenriek said. “So we started earlier this year to get more people aware and put our faces out there that we’re trying to do this stuff for the kids. I’ve been selling soda and ice cream at the high school once a month for the kids to buy and show them that we’re trying to raise money and get them more involved and make them aware that we’re trying.”

Last year, the group raised $12,000 to help the students go to their after-prom event at the Rec-Plex in St. Peters. After 20 years at the Rec-Plex, the after-prom event has been moved to the Main Event, which has been open for business since August 2021.

“We’re changing it up to see if more juniors and seniors want to come,” said Sellenriek, who has been with the Project Prom group for three years. “Maybe next year, we’ll go somewhere else. It costs more to go to the Main Event, so we’re just trying to raise as much as we can to provide the fun for the kids in a good safe environment for the children.”