The Joseph Quinn Intermediate School 77 in Ridgewood will host its annual Caine’s Arcade fundraiser in person this year for the first time since early 2020.
Sixth-graders at I.S. 77 will come together Friday, March 18, at noon to showcase their very own cardboard games to share with their classmates. Each participant will pay an admission fee of $3 and proceeds will go toward local homeless shelters and food pantries. Usually, about $500 is raised among over 200 sixth-graders but every student gets to participate even if their family can’t afford the fee.
Rose-Ann Flanigan, a special education teacher at I.S. 77 and the leader of the event, said that she is thrilled to bring back this event in person.
“I’m so excited. It’s such a great experience for the kids to see what others built,” Flanigan said. “They get very creative with it. We let them run their own games, so they’ll explain directions and give out prizes.”
The event did take place last year, remotely, which Flanigan said just wasn’t the same. Kids weren’t able to play each other’s games or co-mingle with other classrooms.
“I missed it,” Flanigan said. “Last year I was so upset that we didn’t get to do it to its capacity because of COVID.”
Flanigan said that there will be a balloon tower, a photo wall and much more to make it nice for the students.
“It’s been so long since we’ve gotten to do something like this,” Flanigan said.
Caine’s Arcade started in 2012 with 9-year-old, Caine Monroy, making cardboard arcades and running his arcade out of his dad’s auto parts shop. A customer decided to make a documentary after coming across the arcade, resulting in donations for a college fund for Monroy. I.S. 77 and other schools across the country have taken this idea and made it their own.
