Spaghetti Supper
March 30, 2009
In our town, the elementary school has been holding an annual Spaghetti Supper forever, or close to it. My friend Jessica has been the coordinator for the past six of those forever years. She’s got it down to a simple system.
A bunch of parents spend the late afternoon at the school cooking. The Girl Scouts help with the set-up. Some years, if there’s a family in the restaurant business, they donate the tomato sauce. And parents provide homemade desserts.
Teachers serve the food, and families sit together at the long cafeteria tables. The money raised goes to the principal’s discretionary fund. Some years there is music, courtesy of a parents’ very amateur rock group. This year, a couple of student teachers are supervising games for the kids in the gym adjoining the cafeteria.
Jessica says, “It’s a good fundraiser. It’s not that expensive for a family dinner. And there’s no secondary fundraising (raffles, auctions, etc.) It’s an easy way to catch up with some people, support the school, and get a reasonable meal. I like it because it’s something we all do together – the teachers, the parents, the kids.”
Mealtimes Matter Video
from Miriam Weinstein
About Miriam
Miriam Weinstein is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. As a journalist, she has won several awards from the New England Press Association. Her work has appeared in Boston Magazine, the Boston Globe magazine, Hope, and ParentSource. A former staff member for North Shore Weeklies and freelancer for Essex County Newspapers, she writes restaurant reviews and food columns as well as features on a wide variety of subjects. She lives in Gloucester, Massachusetts, with her husband and has two grown children.
The Surprising Power of Family Meals
In her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, Miriam Weinstein shows how this basic human institution helps nourish and strengthen our families today. You can buy this book from our friends at Smucker's® Online Store.
