Reclaiming Futures Cornhole Tournament Saturday

Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White Jr. takes a throw during the 2014 Reclaiming Futures Cornhole Tournament.

If you’re a cornhole player or if you just want to do something to help a program designed to get kids off drugs, then you might want to visit Old Fashioned Trading Days Saturday morning.

The Sixth-Annual Reclaiming Futures Cornhole Tournament will take place starting about 8:30 a.m. in the Whitley County Board of Educations’ parking lot.

All proceeds benefit Reclaiming Futures, formerly known as juvenile drug court, which helps teenagers in the court system get off drugs and stay in school.

“This is our major fundraiser event for Reclaiming Futures since our funding for juvenile drug court was cut about seven years ago. “Since that time we have run on donations,” said Whitley District Judge Cathy Prewitt who is helping organize the event.

Cumberland River Behavioral Health, formerly known as Cumberland River Comprehensive Care Center, provides the case managers for the program and is a huge partner with the Reclaiming Futures Program, Prewitt added.

“Cumberland River Behavioral Health is a large part of Reclaiming Futures. They provide services for the children who have substance abuse and mental health issues,” Prewitt said.

The annual cornhole tournament usually generates about $7,500, which goes towards providing incentives for Reclaiming Futures participants, such as a Christmas party and small gifts.

“We’ve learned that rewards work better than sanctions. If a child does something really good, it gets a reward. They still get sanctions but they get rewards for the good stuff. We use the money to buy gift cards, tickets to the movies and so forth,” Prewitt said.

“It’s just for extra things that otherwise we don’t have money for. Some of it goes in the bank for a rainy day. We have actually used some of it to help pay for treatment, which is very expensive.”

In addition to paying for rewards for the children, funding from the tournament also goes towards paying for drug screening services.

While this is the sixth year for the tournament, it is the first time it has been held in conjunction with Old Fashioned Trading Days.

The first year the tournament was held at the airport, and then it was held the next four years in conjunction with the homecoming celebration at the University of the Cumberlands.

Prewitt said that holding the tournament at the University of the Cumberlands has been great, but there were some scheduling issues this year.

“We were still invited to come, but the players who play cornhole like to come out early as it is still very hot at that time,” Prewitt noted. “This is why we moved downtown but we appreciate the University of the Cumberlands for supporting us for so many years.”

Prewitt said that she doesn’t know how the change of venue and date will affect turnout.

“Time will tell,” she noted. “A lot of people enjoy coming Old Fashioned Trading days.”

There are three divisions that participants can take part in for the cornhole tournament.

The entry fee is $20 per two-person team in the open division and $75 per team for a two to four player team in the celebrity division. There is a $150 entry fee in the corporate division, which covers a six-person entry.

The event normally draws about 50 – 100 participants.

Prewitt said many of the corporate sponsors don’t actually participate and this is when organizers let the children from drug court play, but they aren’t eligible for the cash prizes.

“We will be out bright and early. I invite all cornhole players to come out and enjoy the fun,” Prewitt added. “People can come and sign up on the day of the event.”

Winners in each division will receive cash prizes.

The tournament is sponsored by Reclaiming Futures in the Cumberlands, Whitley County Tourism and the Whitley County Fiscal Court.

Prewitt said there are three tracks to the Reclaiming Futures program. In track one, which is drug court, there are usually 12 – 15 children in the Corbin portion of the program, and 15 – 20 children in the Williamsburg portion of the program.

The second track of the program is a diversion program for children who may have gotten into legal trouble, but not serious enough trouble to be court ordered there. The diversion track often has about 50 – 100 children involved at any given time.

The third track of the program is aimed primarily towards at-risk children, who don’t have a legal charge for something that requires seeing a judge yet but are headed in that direction.

“We provide what I call preventive maintenance in track three where we see those kids getting ready to have a problem and we provide services,” Prewitt noted.

Anyone wanting to make a donation to the Reclaiming Futures program or to register a team can send a check made payable to Reclaiming Futures. It can be mailed to Reclaiming Futures at Cumberland River Behavioral Health Attention: Greta Baker, P.O. Box 568, Corbin, KY 40702.