Education group slates Mardi Gras

When folks go to the Mardi Gras in October celebration at the Civic Center on Friday, Oct. 5, they won't just be enjoying a Cajun boil and live music.

They also will be helping raise money to benefit the cause of education in Port Aransas schools.

Sponsored by the Port Aransas Education Foundation, Mardi Gras in October also will feature silent and Chinese auctions. Items up for auction will include two round-trip tickets on Southwest Airlines to any city where the airline flies. (That covers most of the United States but doesn't go beyond the U.S.)

Also being auctioned: A fishing trip in Costa Rica and a week of surfing instruction at a Port Aransas surf camp run by champion surfer Morgan Faulkner.

The education foundation still is collecting prizes for the auctions. To donate something, contact Michelle Sowers at 749-3607 or sowers@centurytel.net.

Admission to Mardi Gras in October will be $25 apiece or $500 for a table of 10.

Established last year, the Port Aransas Education Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money to award grants for programs and items that aren't funded in school budgets for one reason or another.

Last year, the foundation awarded more than $21,000 in grants to the Port Aransas Independent School District. The grants helped pay for a wide variety of things, including:

- A trip for a few dozen elementary school students to see a symphony orchestra performance in Corpus Christi;

- Electronic equipment that allows PowerPoint presentations in a high school class to become interactive with students;

- Tuition for a teacher to attend a course that explained a process for evaluating the problems of students who struggle with learning.