High school athletics are always special in the way that they can help tie a community together. That’s what the football and baseball teams are hoping to do on Sunday, Nov. 14, as they host a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for the programs.
The spaghetti dinner is not a new venture. The Mustangs hosted it once before to raise money for a baseball trip to Arizona. The Mustangs went to the Phoenix area in 2019 and it turned into a valuable learning experience for the team.
The team plans to make the trip again and needs the help of the Manitou community to get there. But rather than simply asking for help, coach Brandon DeMatto wants to put his players in front of that community so that there is buy-in on both sides.
“The financial gain (in 2019) was certainly helpful,” DeMatto said.
“My rationale for what we do is to build more community and build more of a two-way street when it comes to fundraising, to where our kids get exposed to the people who support them and the people that support them get exposed to our kids.”
There may not be a better way than having the community come into an atmosphere where they can dine with the Manitou athletes and get to know them a bit on a personal level. While they’re at it, they can bid on silent auction items available through the course of the night.
To make the overall event family-friendly, it will include a kids carnival. And that’s the theme that DeMatto and football coach Stu Jeck are hoping to promote throughout the night: family.
They want to show how Manitou athletics is a small community in itself and one that can grow and develop in a family-like atmosphere.
“I think if you ask our kids, family is everything to us,” DeMatto said. “We have our kids around us all the time and they’re constantly able to see our high school kids and high school athletes. We believe as coaches and dads that it’s important for our own kids to experience.”
Tickets for the dinner, which is provided by Panino’s, are on sale online and at the door. The link to purchase tickets online can be found on the Manitou Athletics and Activities Facebook page.
The dinner will take place at Manitou Springs High School, 401 El Monte Place; the doors will open at 4 p.m. Sunday.