The annual “Community Chest” benefit dinner is slated this Sunday (Feb. 8) at La Place Rendez-Vous—and it looks like it might be another sold-out event.
“If people want tickets, they’d better get them fast. We’ve only got about 15 left,” said Georges Blanc, who is helping organize the dinner as both co-owner of the Rendez-Vous and a member of the local Knights of Columbus.
The KCs help organize the fundraiser each year along with members of the local Kiwanis and Lions clubs, the “Spirit of Christmas” committee, and the Rendez-Vous staff.
The remaining tickets, which cost $25 each, are available at the Rendez-Vous, Cousineau Brokers, and Rainy Lake Realty.
But another part of the evening that helps bring in the bucks to provide financial aid to local families who may need help to cover medical costs is the silent and live auction items.
Kiwanian Alan Zucchiatti said he and fellow volunteers like Luc Schill, Larry Cousineau, and Joe DeBenedet have rounded up plenty for the evening—so people had better bring along their wallets.
“We do have quite a bit of stuff. It’s a mixture of things donated by local businesses and arts and crafts made by local individuals,” Zucchiatti said yesterday.
“As usual, the community’s really come on board. It’s made our jobs pretty easy, people just call wanting to donate stuff,” he added.
Donated items up for live and silent auction include centennial tapestries, prints, original paintings, afghans, gift certificates, a Ducks Unlimited decoy, a “canoe shelf” (a canoe cut in half to make for a wall shelf), and a diamond bracelet from Brockie’s Jewellers.
Telford Advent has donated his time to be the auctioneer for the fourth year in a row.
Larry Cousineau will emcee the dinner once again, while former Fort Frances mayor Glenn Witherspoon will be the guest speaker this year.
The benefit begins with a cocktail hour at 5 p.m., followed by dinner being served at 6.
All of the food served is donated by local businesses and individuals to reduce costs and thus maximize proceeds. And Rendez-Vous staff donate their time to work at the dinner.
Last year’s dinner brought in about $15,000.
In related news, Amy Baranowski was the lucky winner of $100 in groceries every week for a year at Safeway after a fundraiser draw for the “Community Chest” was made there Saturday.
The draw also saw second- and third-place winners Lise Roisin and Tana Langtry get $500 and $300 worth of groceries, respectively.
This draw saw roughly 2,700 of the 3,000 tickets sold, bringing in a total of about $7,600.
The “Community Chest” is Safeway’s adopted charity for this year—the second time employees there have do so. They raised $55,123.53 for it in 2001-02.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
