Don’t miss out! The Annual Fundraising Dinner is on March 21
The Selkirk Branch of the Navy League of Canada welcomes residents to pick up tickets to their Annual Fundraiser Dinner taking place on March 21. The dinner supports our local Navy League Cadets #96 Lord Selkirk and Royal Canadian Sea Cadets #77 Daerwood Corps.
Our local cadets during a mess dinner (above) and one of the cadet’s range days(below). These are some of the many activities that cadets engage to facilitate the learning of important skills
“The annual fundraising dinner is our biggest fundraiser, and we basically sell tickets through our cadets. Essentially, the cadets have the first go (at selling tickets and) who they bring to the fundraiser dinner. We charge $20 bucks a ticket, and we put on a meal at the Memorial Hall,” said Brent Evashenko, President, Selkirk Branch of the Navy League of Canada.
The Annual Fundraising Dinner will take place on March 21 at Memorial Hall, 376 Jemima St. in Selkirk at 6 p.m.
“We promptly start serving. The Sea Cadets who attend will do the serving, and our organization, the branch people, we prepare the food. This year, we’re getting a hog from Danny’s Whole Hog. So, it’s a locally sourced protein, so to speak. We rent the barbecue from them, and they supply the hog. We cook it. We bring it to the hall, and we cut it up. And, we have buns, we have baked potatoes, we make gravy, we make a great big coleslaw, and we have drinks,” he explained.
In addition to the meal, there are items that are donated to the event, which are used in a silent auction. There’s also a 50-50 draw that takes place.
Evashenko said that residents are typically quite generous in supporting the cadets as they fundraise about half of the funds from the meal and the other half from the auction and draw.
These funds are used locally in our community to support both opportunities for the two cadet groups, but also to keep up with the basics.
“For the Navy League, we provide the uniforms, and uniforms are fairly expensive. Also, any type of trips that they might do, extracurricular stuff outside of camps, like if they go bowling, or if they have a movie night, or if they do a Halloween party, or anything that is deemed a fun activity outside of what the Navy League says they must do in terms of training and camps,” he explained.
Evashenko explained that they want to support the cadet program because, though he can’t speak for individual experiences, many cadets come out of the program having learned important life skills.
“Here with the cadet program, they learn to deal with people, with leaders, with peers, and they do it in an organized, structured manner that promotes equality and respect. (They learn) stuff that they may not get, in their home environment or school environment,” he said.
He also explained that they receive quite a bit of positive feedback from parents who see the positive changes in the cadets, and that the cadets enjoy being rewarded for their learning with promotion and more responsibility.
If this is something that you’d like to support in the community, the best way to get tickets is to check in with a cadet you know.
“If you know a Navy League or Sea Cadet, they are really in control of the majority of the tickets. They’re the ones who are selling them, or they’re buying them for their family. We do quite often have a number of tickets that are available at the door, or (people wanting tickets) can request them if they want to request them from me, that’s fine, but the easiest way to get them is through the cadets,” said Evashenko.
He welcomes residents to grab a ticket and support this opportunity for kids in our community.
“If you do know a cadet who needs help, they’re each responsible for selling four tickets, that doesn’t mean that they will sell them. We just encourage them to find friends or family who want to attend. It’s $20 bucks, and you get a good meal, and it’s a good time,” said Evashenko.
