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Community dinner celebrates volunteer spirit
Saturday night’s Fauquier Community Service Dinner will serve up plates full of spaghetti along with a healthy side dish of community spirit.
In difficult economic times, the dinner offers a way for the entire community to come together for food, entertainment, and, theoretically, to help out one another, said organizer Tom Benjamin.
Executive director of Fauquier Community Action, Benjamin said that the idea for the evening was born during a conversation he had with Fauquier County School Superintendent Dr. Jonathan Lewis.
“One of his personal philosophies is to really encourage students to give back to the community, to engage in the community,” Benjamin said. “We thought it would be great if we could do something together. We’ll have students perform and promote community services, not only to students, but to the whole community.”
Benjamin said that along with the free goodwill dinner – which includes spaghetti, meatballs, and salad – the event will include informational displays by 30 different local non-profit groups.
“They’ll be sharing with everybody what volunteer opportunities exist and what they do as far as helping the community,” Benjamin explained, adding that the groups represent a broad spectrum of interests. “They run the gauntlet from the therapeutic riding program to Fauquier Hospital to aging services to the Community Farm to the food bank.
“We’re definitely inviting all of the people who use our services. We’re hoping it will be a mixing of all socio-economic backgrounds that come together. We want to get people involved. Maybe they’ll come and say, ‘I didn’t know that group fixed houses, I can volunteer and fix houses, too.’”
A wide variety of musical performances will be offered throughout the dinner, with a new act taking the stage every 15 minutes. Performers include the Bull Run Cloggers, the Piedmont Caledonia Pipe and Drums, the Fauquier Community Band Brass Quintet, and a barbershop quartet, as well as a number of student performers. Arts are sometimes under-appreciated for their ability to bring “us together in song and dance,” Benjamin said.
Organizers also plan to honor the work of recently deceased community volunteers.
Benjamin projects upward of 500 people will attend the event, which may become an annual celebration. There is no admission fee, but organizers will accept free-will donations that will cover the cost of the event. Money raised above the event's actual expenses will benefit the Fauquier Community Food Bank. Every dollar donated to the food bank results in its being able to buy $12 worth of food, Benjamin said.
“This is literally a community just getting together and saying let’s have a fun time tonight,” Benjamin said.
To be held in the Fauquier High School cafeteria, dinner and entertainment will be provided from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28. Volunteers are still needed to help with set up, serving, and clean up. For more information, call Fauquier Community Action at (540) 347-7000.
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