GOSHEN — It’s going to be a hopping Friday at The Post Youth Center.

As part of September’s First Friday events, center personnel are hosting an open house to increase community awareness of their work with local youth, as well as The Post’s upcoming fall programs.

The main focus of the event will be a "live wax museum," where attendees will get to see students and leaders from The Post interacting as if the visitors weren’t there, providing a visible description of five Post programs.

"All of it is to create community awareness," Post executive director Jared Marcus said. "We feel that, unfortunately, because of some of the concerts we used to do, either people don’t know about what we do or have misconceptions about it."

The five programs to be showcased are called "No Regrets," an after-school homework program; "NEFE," a financial management class; "Stepping Towards the Future," an experiential learning class; "How to Boil Water," a cooking fundamentals class; and "Group," a class designed to provide students with a spiritual foundation, including lessons on how to read the Bible. Also offered at The Post will be once-per-week visits from Reason Enough To Act (RETA) staffers who will teach girls about pregnancy and child care.

"All of our programs tackle and address the resources that our students lack, therefore equipping them with what they need to live a productive and stable life," Marcus said.

Marcus recently became The Post’s first full-time executive director after serving as program coordinator for three years. Previously, there had been no executive director, only founder Lonnie Miller who ran the center.

"For us as an organization to have an executive director who is more administrative, this is new," Marcus said. "This is the first time that we’ve really functioned with divided leadership instead of trying to run everything through one individual."

In addition to showcasing the center’s programs, the open house will also include other attractions, including games, a live DJ and a free meal, provided by the center and First Presbyterian Church, with water provided by Hawkins Water Tech. There is a chance the Goshen High School drumline will perform, but Marcus said that is yet to be determined.

To draw more people to the event, The Post will also have a dunk tank — at a cost of $1 per three throws — featuring Brad Rogers of the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Department, Goshen Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Business Development Nick Kieffer, state Sen. Carlin Yoder and Goshen’s own Mayor Allan Kauffman.

"My expectation is to get wet a bunch of times," Kauffman said. "People like to take shots at politicans, so maybe they’ll be lined up waiting."

Kauffman actually helped get several of the dunk tank participants to volunteer. After being contacted by Marcus, he e-mailed all the City Council members and called Vince Turner and Goshen Chamber of Commerce President David Daugherty. Daugherty signed up but later had to back out due to other obligations, and Goshen City Council member Jeremy Stutsman will instead take his place.

According to Kauffman, local residents need to know that The Post works with many children and teens who might not be connected to the community in other ways. He said some of those young people are on the fringes, a different crowd than an organization such as the Boys & Girls Club of Goshen draws, and the center helps to pull them back in.

"The Post believes everybody can be saved, and Jared works hard with those kids," Kauffman said.

The Goshen Police Department will also have representatives at the event, offering free bicycle registration, and there will be an opportunity to get a stamp or token of some sort that can be taken to other local businesses and redeemed for discounts or free items. Other businesses donated money directly to The Post for the event.

"The heart of it all is just showing the town of Goshen, ‘here we are,’" Marcus said. "We need your support in our mission and the kids that we serve need it as well."