Tickets are now on sale for the spaghetti dinner and auction in support of Bracebridge Public School’s (BPS) upcoming class trip to Ottawa.
Grade 7 and 8 students at BPS get the chance to go to Ottawa this year as part of a class trip that BPS offers every two years. The cost of the trip is $559 per student and all proceeds from the fundraiser will go directly to students to help lower their trip fees. The spaghetti dinner and auction will be held at Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School on Jan. 16. The evening will include two dinner services from 5:30 to 7 and from 7 to 8:30 as well as an auction, which offers items from businesses across Muskoka as well as businesses in Toronto. Tickets cost $15 for adults, $7 for children or $40 for a family of four and they will be available for purchase until Jan. 10.
“We want to cut that cost for a lot of families that potentially can’t afford to go but still want to give their kids an opportunity to experience the trip,” said Michelle Gemmell, a BPS parent and chair of the school council.
When Michelle and the rest of the council landed on the idea of the dinner and auction as a fundraiser for the trip, they felt that it was important for the students to play an active role in the fundraising.
“Basically, the students are going to be running the event,” she said. “They’re going to be serving and cooking the spaghetti, taking orders, serving drinks.”
In addition to running the dinner portion of the event, students are also managing ticket sales, running the auction and decorating the venue. Michelle’s son Nathanyal, a Grade 7 student and minister of finance for the student parliament, helped plan the fundraiser and contributed ideas like having students provide entertainment throughout the night with a student showcase.
“It’s been really fun personally because I get to have my ideas put into action,” Nathanyal said. “Normally I wouldn’t be able to help run a full-on dinner, but now I am.”
Along with the new opportunities that the fundraiser presents, the trip itself is a first for Nathanyal and many other students in his class.
“A lot of the students in Bracebridge and the Muskoka area in general haven’t really left Muskoka. Very few students have even ventured off to Toronto to experience that,” Michelle said, adding that she’s never been to Ottawa herself. “This trip is packed with all kinds of tourist attractions and museums. They’re experiencing everything hands on.”
Grade 8 student Marly Best is looking forward to stepping out of her comfort zone and expressing how she feels about the trip as MC for the dinner and auction.
“I personally have never been to Ottawa, and I’m super excited,” Best said. “We’re going to learn about the history of Canada and Ottawa, and we get to stay in a hotel, which might be the first time for some of us.”
From the dinner itself to the student performances throughout the evening, Best said she hopes that locals will come out to see the work they’ve put into the fundraiser.
“It brings us together as a community,” she said, “and it shows how great BPS really is.”
To get tickets for the spaghetti dinner and auction, email spaghettidinnerbps@outlook.com or call 905-591-6226.
