DAR thanks MGHS Culinary Arts students for their big assist with Valentine’s Day strawberries

Contributed Photo/Courtesy Gila Valley DAR: A culinary arts student at Mt. Graham High School dips a strawberry in white chocolate as part of the Gila Valley DAR's Valentine's Day fundraiser.

Contributed Photo/Courtesy Gila Valley DAR: A culinary arts student at Mt. Graham High School dips a strawberry in white chocolate as part of the Gila Valley DAR’s Valentine’s Day fundraiser.

Contributed Article/Courtesy Bonnie Briscoe, DAR Gila Valley Chapter

SAFFORD – The local Gila Valley Chapter of the Daughters of the Revolution (DAR) wishes to offer a BIG thanks to the BIG assist given to them by the Culinary Arts Department at Mount Graham High School for their fantastic help with creating plates of chocolate-covered strawberries for the chapter’s fundraiser.

Contributed Photos/Courtesy Gila Valley DAR: MGHS students assist with the preparation of the chocolate-covered strawberries.

Mrs. Sheila Pompeo, the culinary arts teacher, Mrs. Tracy Good, the classroom aide and the students worked diligently and enthusiastically for a week in preparing for this event. We are most grateful to Mr. E.J. Romero, their principal, for providing a week ahead for the class to focus on that Valentine’s Day project. An additional genuine thanks to the students of the Teen Outreach Program and their sponsors, Mr. John Nicholas, school counselor, and Shanna Masten, math teacher, for their excellent help.

Contributed Photos/Courtesy Gila Valley DAR:

The students, along with members of the DAR chapter, dipped 1,698 strawberries to fill the pre-orders of 176 plates, which included 107 dozen and 69 half-dozen plates. It was a wonderful partnership, which brought in a revenue of $2,500 for local student scholarships and student awards. This was the highest amount raised in the eight years of doing this fundraiser.

Contributed Photos/Courtesy Gila Valley DAR:

Adding to this assist, the chapter would like to offer heartfelt thanks to the community for supporting this fundraiser with their orders and donations and for the generous way the strawberries were obtained from Safeway. Without all this support, the success of this fundraiser would not be possible. Just know we will be back next year on Valentine’s Day with “Strawberries for Scholarships and Student Awards”!