Ten Quesnel residents will take the stage at the Chuck Mobley Theatre Friday, March 6 and share their own personal stories of significant events in their lives in front of an audience to raise funds for breakfast program in local schools, as well as strengthen the community.
This year will mark the second anniversary of the annual event, which last year raised around $1,400 for breakfast programs across School District 28.
The organizer of this year’s and last year’s Our Tellings event, Correlieu Secondary School principal Dennis Hawkins-Bogle, decided to put on the fundraiser after he saw a friend put on a similar event in Vancouver. He reached out to members of the community he thought might be interested in sharing their stories, and the result, Hawking-Bogle says, was a wonderful and intimate evening, which saw the community come together not only to raise funds for a great cause, but also for its members to support each other and grow stronger.
“It’s a really intimate evening; the storytellers are all local — they’re from Quesnel and they all tell very personal stories,” said Hawkins-Bogle. “The stories range from adventure stories, comedies, coming of age, to personal growth stories. There is lots of real personal sharing around people’s lives with things they’ve struggled with, with things they’ve overcome, so it becomes very intimate. Last year, you could hear a pin drop in the theatre; people who came to watch were just riveted to listen to these stories from people that they know who are up on stage opening up their hearts and sharing their personal stories.”
Admission to the event is by donation, with all of the proceeds going towards breakfast programs throughout School District 28. Hawkins—Bogle says fundraising events such as Our Tellings are crucial to the ongoing success of breakfast programs in schools, as they contribute to a large portion of the program’s overall funding.
“Fundraising is really important because we get a grant from the Breakfast Club of Canada, but we don’t receive any other funding to provide breakfast in schools — we get half our funding from that grant and the rest we get through fundraising,” said Hawkins-Bogle.
You can hear Hawkins-Bogle’s story, along with stories from Ian Grant, Judy Campbell, Rob Borsato, Brenda Beatty, Micah McGowan, Doreen Patrick, Shawn Smith, Mary-Jo Hilyer and Maggie Forbes Therrien, Friday, March 6 at Correlieu Secondary School’s Chuck Mobley Theatre. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the show starts at 7 p.m.
Read More: Quesnel locals share powerful, heartfelt stories for breakfast program
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