The 40th Arcadia Methodist Church Family Banquet is this upcoming Saturday (March 28) and organizers are encouraging the public to buy tickets by the end of the day Tuesday to attend.
The Arcadia Methodist men are in charge of organizing the event again this year, and Rolen Sell joined KCNI/KBBN on the Get Up & Go Breakfast Show to talk about the evening ahead. He started by talking about the beginning of the banquet’s history when the athletic banquet ended.
“We wanted it to be something that was both encouraging athletics, encouraging family, and encouraging a relationship with God,” said Sell, “So that’s kind of how it all started, and it’s just evolved and we’ve had some amazing, amazing speakers over the years and been blessed very much.”
View our full visit with Rolen Sell in the video at the end of this story
Brittany Wilkins, a born-and-raised Nebraskan from Arlington and state basketball champion, former Iowa State Cyclone, and WNBA and international professional basketball player will be the featured speaker on Saturday.
“She actually played on 12 different teams in seven different countries through those years. At age 30, she retired from professional basketball and transitioned into education and taught kindergarten and grade 10 health and physical education abroad,” Sell explained. “She spent 11 years living in Tokyo, Japan, where she also coached high school basketball and volleyball and took teams to Thailand and Korea and around Japan.”
In September of 2023, Wilkins moved home to Nebraska to be closer to her family on the family farm. She has been teaching full time locally, running basketball camps, and helping on the farm.
“Bring an appetite and bring an open heart and open ears because you’ll be inspired by this lady and I’m sure motivated in your walk with Christ, and your walk with school and activities, and most of all with family too,” said Sell.
In addition to a meal from Whitefoot Catering, attendees will be treated to music from mother/daughter duo Mary Channer-Paul and Molly Magill.
Advanced tickets are encouraged to be purchased by Tuesday at $15 each to assist in helping get a food count for the caterer. Youth (high school age and younger) are free with an advance ticket. Organizers want youth to continue to attend this event and cover the cost of their tickets to propel that effort.
Contact Rolen Sell at 308-202-0136 to get tickets. If your schedule changes and you discover later this week that you can attend but hadn’t gotten a ticket, Sell says not to let that deter you.
“Don’t hesitate to call me. If we can, we can work it in but it really helps us if we know by Tuesday or Wednesday at the very latest, it helps us,” closed Sell.
