When Vanier Collegiate student Jenna Meili attended an event called Passion to Purpose as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Program earlier this year, a special fundraising idea crept into her mind.
The captain of the eventual city champion Vanier Spirits, Meili thought an all-star volleyball game featuring local celebrities would be an interesting venture, and upon returning home, enlisted the help of Madison DeCorby, Aimee Dumlao and Allison Grajczyk-Jelinski, with the goal of making said project happen.
That idea became Sets4Supper. And to say they pulled it off would be a bit of an understatement, as an impressive crowd took in the Riverside Mission fundraiser on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 1) and witnessed an impressive slate of volleyball while bring in cash for the local charity.
“All the preparation we did really paid off and the support has been amazing,” Meili said. “The community has been awesome with their donations and support and even the local celebrities, wow, what can I say, that's amazing.... I'm kind of overwhelmed right now, but it's been absolutely incredible.”
Rachel Mullens, interim manager of Riverside Mission, was especially impressed with the support.
“It's been wonderful. Vanier has really taken on Riverside Mission as their charity and they've done quite a few things for us,” said Mullens, whose husband, Danny, played in the game and is operations manager at the Mission. “This was just exciting to see, the students take initiative and supporting Riverside Mission. They did a wonderful job of putting this on and I couldn't have asked for anything better.
A theme throughout the event was the hard work of the Vanier students, something the Mullens felt was impressive of all.
“It gives me great pleasure to see that,” she said. “We live in a society where it's a lot about me, me, me and it's good to see young people taking on other people's problems, problems that are as big as the world, but they're just trying to do something to help their own community and better their community, and I think that helps those students better themselves.”
Read more on the game itself.
