Local high school students taking part in the Beyond Borders program haven’t just raised the bar with their upcoming year end gala at the River Run Centre, they broke it.
The Kairos charity gala takes place on Jan. 12, a night of food, thought and entertainment that is the culmination of a semester’s work by 47 Grade 12 students who come from a variety of Guelph high schools.
“We’ve already raised $56,000 and our goal by the end of the night is to have raised $100,000,” said student Taylor Ferigo. “It’s a pretty high goal but we think we can do it.”
Beyond Borders offers students a unique semester that focuses on leadership development, business, math, global development and sustainability, with an emphasis on team-building, skill development, and experiential learning.
The students are responsible for all elements of the culminating gala, said Ferigo, from arranging the entertainment to finding donations and selling tickets.
“The goal every year is to raise more money than the class did the year before,” Ferigo said of the charity gala, which is in its eighth year.
“At the beginning of the course our teacher told us to ‘raise the bar’ and one of the guys in our class said that our motto would be ‘break the bar.’”
The $56,000 already raised is the most ever.
Money raised goes to Guelph General Hospital, Mount Sinai Hospital’s Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome research and Doctors without Borders.
The performances of the evening include Toronto indie folk singer Megan Bonnell, Indo-Tanzanian Canadian singer-songwriter and two-time Juno Award nominee Alysha Brilla, Lauren Roy and Wali Shah.
There is also a silent auction the night of the event.
Tickets are $70 and can be purchased here.
