A South Bend woman will soon use her balloon artistry to help kids who’ve been abused and neglected in Colorado. Next year she’ll lend her talents to Michiana families with children receiving cancer treatment.
Jenn Nyikos never envisioned any of this in 2011 when she launched “Fun By the Yard” as a side gig. Customers would hire her to surprise their loved ones with yard signs, often wishing happy birthday, congratulations or well wishes during illness.
“And then I started having companies say, ‘Hey can you bring balloons?’ and I was like, ‘No, I don’t know anything about balloons,” Nyikos said. “I was asked so many times, I thought I better look into this, and that’s when I discovered there’s a whole balloon world.”
Nyikos began attending annual balloon conventions, where she became a CBA – Certified Balloon Artist.
For the fifth time, the Big Balloon Build, based out of Wales in the U.K., has selected her from hundreds of applicants for this year’s big build, which is at Ames Community College in Greeley, Colorado.
Next year the nonprofit is bringing its annual build to South Bend, thanks to an application from Nyikos. It will occur in April at the Northern Indiana Event Center in Elkhart, this time with a carnival theme. Money raised will benefit her chosen recipient, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Michiana.
