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Artscene 31 · Friday, June 4, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER TAKING NOTHING FOR GRANTED: Students at White Oaks Secondary School show off a few of the many works of art to be auctioned next Tuesday to raise funds for Free the Children. The event's organizers, 12 students and teacher/advisor Patty Toohy, have been preparing for the Pasta Dinner and Art Auction event for months with hopes of raising the $8,500 needed to build a school in Kenya. Dinner and an auction to build a school By Dominik Kurek OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF group of local students and their teacher are aiming to raise money to build something many of us take for granted -- a place to learn. The Free The Children Committee at White Oaks Secondary School is aiming to raise an initial $8,500 to build a school in Kenya, in Africa. So far the committee has raised $2,000 this year, which it has donated to the agency already. "Once we raise that we're hoping to continue and to have enough money to pay for a well and pay for a teacher for a year and buy books," said the A teacher/advisor on the committee Patty Toohy. "We're going to keep going." To raise funds, the committee is hosting a Pasta Dinner and Art Auction in the school's cafeteria on Tuesday, June 8. There will be some 100 pieces of art, which have been donated from people and businesses in the community, staff and students. "We got art from everywhere," Toohy said, noting that half the artworks were donated by community members. There will be paintings, prints, photography, jewelry and more. Some of the work was also created by White Oaks students. "I'm hoping we get a lot of "This is a chance for them to give back and be proud of what they have accomplished." Patty Toohy, teacher White Oaks Secondary School parents," Toohy said. "We put notices around some of the smaller schools around us and I'm hoping that people who live in the community will have a look at what we have and come out as well." Though the committee is not attached to any subject at the school, it does make its students more globally aware, said Toohy. "In order to raise well-round- ed individuals it is important for them to see and hear what is happening in other corners of the world," she said. "This is a chance for them to give back and be proud of what they have accomplished. Free the Children is such a wonderful organization and because Craig Kielburger was so young when he started Free The Children our students can relate to him. They can see that one person really can make a change in the world." The dinner will include soup, meat or vegetarian lasagna, salads, garlic bread, desert, tea and coffee. The meal will be prepared by the school's cooking teacher who used to be a professional chef. People should RSVP to Toohy by Monday, June 7 at the school at 905-845-5200, ext. 254 for dinner tickets. The auction will be both silent and live and people not wishing to eat can get in with a donation at the door and just come to the auction. Live music will be performed by the Brass Quintet. The $15 price of admission for the dinner includes a raffle ticket. Dinner is at 6 p.m., the art auction preview and jewelry sale is at 7 p.m. and the auction is at 7:30 p.m. The event is taking place in the school's north campus at 1055 McCraney St. E.