Formal Fundraising Banquet Planned by UCA Students

Upper Columbia Academy (UCA) students had already raised more than $1,700 for Katrina relief but wanted to do more. They decided to host a formal fundraising banquet. With their creative lighting and decorating, the gym became an elegant banquet hall. Students themselves, wearing tuxedos and formal gowns, greeted the guests and escorted them to tables. Before and during the meal, students provided live dinner music, including vocal and instrumental solos.

“So many students wanted to participate in the music,” said Eddie McCune, one of the student organizers, “we had to limit them to one number each!” Ashley Cohen, from Southern Adventist University (SAU), was the guest speaker. She showed pictures and told stories of the work she and other SAU students had been able to do in hard-hit areas immediately following Katrina. She told about miracles God had performed for them, including providing water for their team, and stories about people open to the gospel as a result of their work.

It took several dozen UCA students working together to make this evening a success. They found a guest speaker and a caterer, made hundreds of invitational phone calls, visited local churches, coordinated nearly 20 musical performances and did all of the decorating.

The banquet raised more than $2,300, bringing the total this year to well over $4,000. The money is being split between the American Red Cross and Adventist Community Services.

“We learned so much,” said Eddie McCune, one of the student organizers looking back on the experience with satisfaction. “These weren’t things we could have learned in the classroom—we could only have learned by doing them ourselves.”

“I am so proud of these students for doing this!” reports their principal, Jeff Bovee. “They were creative, they worked hard and they worked well with the school. They pulled off a really beautiful evening!”