Alameda Spaghetti Feed coming up
By Brielle Kennington
Argus Observer
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 12:50 PM PST
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| Last year’s annual Alameda Elementary School Spaghetti Feed brought more than 700 spaghetti lovers to the school and raised more than $4,000. This year, spaghetti feed organizers are hoping to sell 800 tickets to their biggest event of the year. |
The biggest fund-raising event of the year for Alameda Elementary School is just around the corner.
The annual Alameda Elementary School Spaghetti Feed will take place from 5 p.m. through 8 p.m. Thursday at the school, situated on Alameda Drive.
The spaghetti feed is a popular event that last year attracted more than 700 spaghetti lovers and raised more than $4,000 for the school.
Though volunteers will start cooking the pasta at 2 p.m. the day of the event, volunteers, students, parents, teachers and members of the Alameda Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization have been preparing for the event for months.
“It’s like opening a restaurant for three hours and serving 800 people and then closing it and cleaning up,” Alameda Elementary School Principal Paul Erlebach said.
Part of the preparation includes making a lot of the food well in advance. For example, the Italian salad dressing takes 10 days to make and is started two weeks before the event. The homemade breadstick dough is also made in advance and then frozen so the breadsticks can be freshly served. Since this year’s goal is to serve 800 people, the PTO has already made and frozen 1700 breadsticks. Along with the dressing and breadsticks, the 18 gallons of sauce is prepared a week in advance, which includes cooking the ground beef and then adding all the ingredients to make a nice spaghetti sauce. Cooking the large quantity of food requires a lot of work and planning to make sure everything is prepared properly.
“We have to go through all the food safety regulations,” Parent Involvement Coordinator Carmina Santana said.
Other planning includes ordering the food through the Ontario School District.
Though the PTO makes every attempt to make sure everything is accounted for, sometimes things don’t always go according to plan.
Last year Santana said they ran out of pasta and had to go and get more. Luckily Romio’s offered to donate pasta and the feed was able to continue.
“Everybody pitches in,” Santana said.
Other local businesses join in the spaghetti-feed spirit of giving through donations for the silent action of gift certificates, merchandise and even vacation packages.
So far this year’s big item is a seven-day stay at a five-star resort in Mazatlan, Mexico. As of Monday there were more than 75 silent auction items with more being donated daily. Any money raised through ticket sales or silent auction items goes to help purchase needed items for the school such as physical education equipment, field trips, playground equipment and assemblies.
If the Mazatlan trip or spaghetti isn’t enough to entice residents, Erlebach said there will be more than 100 different desserts to choose from at the spaghetti feed. Students’ parents bring the desserts, which include mostly store-bought sugary delights, the day of the event.
“The parents are real supportive,” Erlebach said.
Another way parents demonstrate support is through helping their children sell spaghetti feed tickets.
The tickets cost $6 for adults and $4 for children ages 12 and under and include spaghetti, bread sticks, salad, dessert and a beverage. Though most tickets are purchased at the door, Alameda students help promote the spaghetti feed through posters, decorations, entertainment and selling tickets.
“They’re excited about it,” Erlebach said.
If poster designs aren’t students’ fortes they can make decorations for the event or sing in the honor choir. The honor choir is comprised of fourth- and fifth-grade students and will be the entertainment for the evening starting at 5 p.m. through 5:30 p.m.
If people can’t stay and listen to the choir, Santana said take-out is an option. She said a lot of people show their support by purchasing tickets and then just getting the items to go. She said the take-out option balances the number of cars coming and going and the number of seats available in the cafeteria. Santana also said there has never been a parking problem at past spaghetti feeds, and she doesn’t suspect there will be this year.
“It’s a nice social event. It’s worth it even if we didn’t make a dime,” Erlebach said.
