Alberni high school rocks bus fundraiser

The Alberni District Secondary School athletic department has teamed up with Boston Pizza for a pair of musical fundraisers April 7–8. The high school needs to buy a new 15-passenger van to help accommodate the many events sports and other teams attend throughout the year, department head Mike Roberts said.

Abra Cadabra: The Music and Magic of ABBA comes to the ADSS Theatre on Friday, April 7 at 7 p.m., with a special beer garden opening at 6 p.m.

Heroes of Rock perform a tribute to the biggest rock legends of all time on Saturday, April 8 at 7 p.m.

This is not the first time Boston Pizza has teamed up with ADSS to assist, but it’s an important fundraiser, says Roberts.

“Port Alberni is unique; we have one high school. Other communities on the Island have more than one…for us, every single away game is over the Hump. The closest community would be Qualicum Beach and Parksville, but often they’re not in our leagues.

“In order for that to happen, we have to have buses.”

In the winter, the school has six basketball teams, a dance team, cheer team and a large wrestling team—and they all need to move around to competitions. The school has two, 24-passenger buses and a 15-passenger van already, but need a new one. Teams cannot use School District 70 buses because those buses are often in use taking students home when teams need to travel for games.

The buses and booking are handled through Arrowview Services Society, which oversees the vehicles on behalf of the athletic department, Roberts explained.

There is still time for sponsors to jump on board with the bus project. MacEachern has arranged for every major sponsor’s name to be included in the paint wrap on the new vehicle.

“We’d love to have this become an annual event, where it’s happening at the same time every year to help out the athletic department,” MacEachern said.