MOOSEHEART, IL - There was a real buzz to the Mooseheart Student Center on Friday, Jan. 23 when the location celebrated its grand re-opening.

And just like any re-opening, there were new things to enjoy. In one room formerly filled with old-style arcade games, students played on the newest and most popular home video game consoles such as Wii and Playstation 3.

Just past that room, the Student Center café was open for the first time in a year, allowing students a chance to purchase candy or pop or other snacks. In addition, there is a new item for sale, Jamba Juice.

“I think one person put it pretty good,” Mooseheart Coordinator of Recreation and Camping Bryan Miller said. “The Recreation Department is like the Park District at Mooseheart. We want to create a place on campus where kids can come and play and do similar things that they can do off-campus. Having more games and things to play makes that a little more reality for us today.”

The most notable change is the removal of the pinball machines and other '70s-'80s-era arcade games, which took up considerable space in the room in which they sat. In their place are the new gaming systems, which are played using hand-held controllers and use flat-screen TVs as monitors.

“We’ve always rented out the big arcade games like you see (or saw) at pizza places,” Mooseheart Recreation Director Bryan Miller said. “It got a little old for us. We want to modernize things and make things more up to date. We always had a Playstation or an Xbox here or there. But we want to go above and beyond that and kind of make it a little more modern.”

A variety of donations helped create the variety of sources. Among recent donations, Downers Grove, IL Lodge 1535 donated a flat-screen TV, an Xbox 360 gaming system and a Guitar Hero game in the fall. Iowa City, IA Lodge 1096 donated a large flat-screen television and some Wii accessories on Homecoming in October. Berwyn, IL Lodge 424 donated a Wii system and games, including another Guitar Hero game. In December, BP America in Napervile, IL donated a Playstation 3 gaming system and some games.
Added together, the room formerly dominated by arcade games now is populated by a number of the latest gaming systems and games.

“It’s a big conglomeration of Lodges that have come through to make our student center a lot more fun,” Miller said.

The re-opening of the café was also much welcomed and a number of students sat at the counter to order items.

“We always had in our Recreation dreams, to have some kind of café or candy store where the kids could come to buy candy,” Mooseheart Director of Recreation Bryan Miller said.

Years back, there was a store on campus called “Moose Scoops,” where students could get a large scoop of ice cream or candy for a small price.
When the Recreation Department moved to its current site in the late 1990s, a full-fledged café concept emerged.

“It’s a place where kids can go to get a sweet snack or kind of hang out,” Miller said.

Jamba Juice, which offers a variety of fruit-flavored smoothies, was on offer for the first time at the re-opening. Kim Schmelzer, the manager of the Geneva, IL store arrived with a cooler full of the product and also brought the store’s banana mascot costume - which was modeled the rest of the afternoon by Mooseheart junior Jamesetta Mator.

“(Miller) talked to me about a month ago,” Schmelzer said. “We were trying to think of ways to make this available to the people here but also to generate the awareness about Mooseheart within the community and then to give back to Mooseheart as well.”

A number of possible fundraising events are possible as the Jamba-Mooseheart relationship grows.

“(Miller) and I have talked about people from Mooseheart handing out flyers,” Schmelzer said.

Schmelzer said that in addition to her company’s stated desire to help with community fund-raisers, helping Mooseheart is close to her own heart: her father lived at Mooseheart in the 1960s.

“I knew about Mooseheart but I think a lot of people live right here and they have no idea what it is other than that there’s kids here,” Schmelzer said. “I think of even doing an in-store flyer day where the kids could come and hand out the flyers or be in the store talking about Mooseheart.”

Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.

Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,900 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.

Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.
Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.

Mooseheart is currently home to nearly 250 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment.

Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually.

In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $90 million worth of community service programs annually
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Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.Mooseintl.org and www.Mooseheart.org or call 630-966-2229.