The Revere Power Pack Program hosted their annual Voice Fundraiser February with the goal of raising money to provide food for students in need.
The Power Pack program is an essential program at Revere. For students on a reduced or free lunch plan, the district offers pre-packed meals for weekends and holiday breaks.
Richfield Elementary Principal Anthony Stretar joined the Power Pack program when he first started in the district and described the process of how the program works.
“It’s been a great program. We get a big bin delivered by Jim Carpen, who’s one of our bus drivers, and it has all the bag food for the weekend, and then Mrs. Head (Middle School Secretary) distributes that — and tries to do it discreetly. That’s the big part is doing it discreetly so that it doesn’t draw attention for those students,” Stretar said.
The upcoming fundraiser is put together by the programs board, notably Majorie Die, retired secretary at the middle school, and Jill O’Hare, a main force behind the planning. A table costs $95, with a cash bar opening around 5:30 and dinner beginning at 6:30. The night includes a dinner, auction and the main event, a singing competition based on the popular reality television show The Voice.
The singers for the competition are primarily local artists but also staff from the district. In the past, staff members, including Phil King, a math teacher at Revere Middle School, and Patrick DiCaprio, a sixth grade math teacher, have performed for the fundraiser. Dr. Dan Oberhauser, the Revere Middle School’s Assistant Principal, was a judge at last year’s fundraiser and spoke about the singers.
“Some of our staff members are pretty talented. They get some local artists and you know, we’ve had some former grads that have come back. I know some of them had been in the works of having a music career, so it’s not just random, they get some bonafide singers in there,” Oberhauser said.
When it comes to the actual competition, it works very similarly to the way the show does.
“So there are four judges [and] then it kind of works just like the TV show. You spin around in your chair and try to convince the singer that they should be on your team. And then the winning team is voted on by the audience [donations],” Stretar said.
The auction includes many different exciting items and opportunities that are donated by people in the Revere community.
“One of the board members, Natalie Rainey, has donated Browns tickets…there are vacations sometimes [which] people will donate their vacation homes for a week or things like that. There are silent auction items like gift packages where [it] might be something like a massage at Yellow Creek. Sometimes it’s like an autograph or sports memorabilia,” Stretar said.
Stretar and Andrew Wilson, Assistant Principal at Bath Elementary, along with Majorie Dye and Gina Pappano, will be judges in the production.
Oberhauser appreciates the program for what it can do for the Revere community.
“This is just one of those things where if we can continue to provide services for our students and make sure that everybody has enough [and] the basic needs are met at home, it’s just nice to be able to help so many kids,” Oberhauser said.
All the work put into the fundraiser this year will prove to make it just as successful as past years.
“We have a wonderful turnout of our community and we’re very fortunate to have people that like to be actively involved with our schools. We are very blessed to be able to have that support,” Wilson said.
Click HERE for more Lantern coverage on programs at Revere.
