Focused on creating a unique and memorable experience for fathers and daughters to share, staff at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula prepare to host their annual Daddy Daughter Dance, Saturday, Feb. 7.

“This dance is really at the essence of what we are here,” Dave Miller, Boys & Girls Clubs Carroll C. Kendall unit director, said. “It fosters healthy relationships and it’s important for girls to know and have a good male role model.”

Although the dance is titled the Daddy Daughter Dance, organizer of the event and club membership coordinator Tessa Jackson said the dance isn’t restricted to fathers, but open to brothers, uncles, grandfathers or any primary male figure or role model.

Relying on the help of staff and volunteers, Jackson will transform the Sequim facility into an elegant space for dancing and dinning. Differing from last year, Jackson said a pasta bar is on the menu so each person can customize their own meal.

Also, to appease everyone’s musical taste, songs will range from classics, like the Macarena and modern hits to older tunes for the dads to enjoy, Jackson said. And, if a dance break is needed, board games will be available plus photo opportunities and a raffle are on the agenda.

In order to properly plan for the dance and make it the envisioned success, Jackson admits she’s “very fortunate” to have the help of both parent and student volunteers, as well as the club staff. Unlike like last year’s Daddy Daughter Dance, Jackson is collaborating with the Rainbow Girls to give out party favors.

“I am really excited to working with the Rainbow Girls for this,” she said.

The dance is one of a handful of smaller fundraising events the clubs’s staff host throughout the year to help support the organization given memberships are $30 per year. But, both Jackson and Miller agree, the dance isn’t about raising funds as much as it is about providing the platform for a special evening for daughters and their dads.

“Last year was a lot of fun and a huge success,” Jackson said. “I anticipate another really fun dance and more participation.”

Boys & Girls Clubs staff raised $1,600 at last year’s dance and have since upped the funding goal to $2,000.

The annual operating cost for Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula is $1 million, Janet Gray, clubs resource development director, said, and fundraising is about 46-50 percent of that cost.

“Of course, being a nonprofit we have to be financially creative,” Miller said. “We see about 300 children here per day.”

Monies raised supplement the clubs’s everyday operating expenses, programs, membership scholarships and summer field trips.

Dance tickets are available at both the Sequim and Port Angeles Boys & Girls Clubs and online, at positiveplaceforkids.net.

Additional costs include $5 adult dinner, $4 child dinner, $3 sundaes, $5 photographs and $1 raffle tickets.