By Sara Beth Williams–
The Veteran’s Community Center is holding an annual spaghetti feed fundraiser on Saturday, June 22.
This year’s event will feature a silent auction with several gift baskets and other gifts available, as well as live music from Uncle John’s Band. Silent auction tickets will be sold at the entrance, and winners will be chosen near the end of the evening. Dinner will include spaghetti with meat or vegetarian sauce, salad, and breadsticks. Limited beer and wine will also be available for purchase.
The event will run from 5-8 p.m., and tickets can be purchased in person at the Veteran’s Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The annual fundraising event is one of the center’s largest of the year, according to Laurie Thornton, administrative assistant and event organizer with the Veterans Community Center. Thornton said the center is 100 percent reliant on donations and conducts three to four fundraising events per year to raise money for purposes of upkeep. Donations also allow the veterans center to serve lunch to veterans four days a week.
Last year’s spaghetti dinner featured live music from pop-soul band Moonglow. A video from the 2023 spaghetti dinner fundraiser event can be viewed here.
“It’s fun, a lot of camaraderie,” Thornton said, adding that she anticipates close to one hundred attendees. This year, tables will be set up outdoors in long, “family-style” fashion. The spaghetti dinner is one of the biggest fundraisers of the year for the center, Thornton said. Other fundraisers throughout the year include an annual yard sale and Christmas tree and wreath donations for active duty military personnel and their families. The center also hosted a BBQ Luau lunch buffet fundraising event in August 2023 according to their website.
The Veterans Community Center was originally the Sylvan Schoolhouse and later served as the Citrus Heights Community Center for over 40 years before Citrus Heights became a city and expanded into newer, more modern facilities.
Tickets are $25. The Veteran’s Community Center is located at 6921 Sylvan Rd.
