Organizers are hoping Friday’s benefit dinner and dance here will raise the last bit of money needed to bring 11 child victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident from Belarus to the Rainy River District this summer.
The dinner will be held at the local Legion Hall, with tickets on sale for $15. They can be purchased at Betty’s and Fort Frances General Supply.
The doors will open at 6 p.m., with dinner at 6:30. The evening also will feature a penny table and entertainment by the Kateryna Dancers.
The dance, featuring music by “Dan’s Muzik,” starts at 9 p.m. and is open to the public. Admission to the dance only is $5.
Susan Affleck, local group leader of the Canadian Relief Fund for Chernobyl Victims in Belarus, said they are very close to reaching the roughly $12,000 needed to fund the project.
“The men at the Legion have donated their hall and the ladies have donated their time so there is very little overhead,” Affleck said. “We’ll meet our amount.”
The 11 children are expected to arrive in the district June 19, and will be staying for six weeks with host families from Rainy River to Fort Frances.
While here, they will receive dental and eye care not available in their country. Their bodies also will have a chance to flush out some of the radioactive isotopes which still linger in Belarus from the accident.
“A lot of churches and service clubs have helped out,” Affleck said. “And people throughout the Rainy River District have donated all sorts of things to the penny table.
“I think we’ll be pretty close to the mark [for fundraising],” she added. “Anything we get beyond goes for next year.”