Sep. 4—The Reserve Club at Woodside hosted a large crowd Friday night for a late summer fundraiser titled Making a Splash for Charity. The event supported two local groups: Children's Place Inc. and Aiken Equine Rescue.

Guests were able to choose one of the fundraisers to support when buying tickets to throw balls at a dunk tank. Dunk tank volunteers included Mike Battaglia, president of the Reserve Club Men's Golf Association, and Sam Jones, a Woodside sales associate, who took turns taking a dip for a good cause.

Children's Place is a family development center in Aiken that serves kids ages 2 to 5 and their families. The goal is to "provide some therapy and treatment services," said Madison Jones, a community outreach team member at Children's Place. Jones said that money raised Friday will go toward a new building effort, the Stand Up For Children campaign.

Through this campaign, Children's Place will be able to move to a larger facility and allow them to make a bigger difference in the community.

Aiken Equine Rescue, a horse rescue farm, has just taken on five new starving horses.

"Most of the proceeds will go directly towards feed for the horses," said Nancy Cruz, an organization volunteer. Aiken Equine Rescue also lost a barn in a fire several years ago, and according to Cruz, some of the money raised may go towards its reconstruction.

Jim Rhodes, president and managing director of Aiken Equine rescue, noted that the organization has relied heavily on the support of Aiken communities and neighborhoods like Woodside.

"Without them, I don't know where we would be," he said.

Megan Canney, a Woodside communications associate, believed that the event was a success.

"People love coming out, meeting new people," she said. "There's new members here, and everyone's having a good time."