By EMILY REED

Special to the Reporter

HOOVER – The Students for Students Scholarship Foundation at Spain Park High School is gearing up to host “Christmas at the Park: Dinner and a Show” on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m.

The event will be held in the Spain Park Competition Gym and will be catered by Joe’s Italian.

Tickets for the event are $25 per person.

“Initially, I had come up with the idea of hosting a winter festival in the park on this date, since it was not too close to Christmas and just before exams began,” said Tanya Gupta, one of the organizers of the event. “However, I got in touch with the city of Hoover and went in to meet with the city planner, Erin Colbaugh. After speaking with her, we developed the idea of a dinner and a show night instead, so people can get dressed up and have a fun night out.”

Those planning to attend will be treated to a performance from a band called “Reverb” from Tuscaloosa.

Gupta said there will also be several local bands, dancers, singers, musicians, a magician and pianists performing at the event.

Other activities with the event include a dance floor, prizes, photo booth and games, Gupta said.

The event is open to all ages, but Gupta said the original idea was to be a date night for parents.

“Everyone is encouraged to dress up, take a night off from cooking, and enjoy an evening with us to support a great cause,” Gupta said.

A unique aspect of this event is it is 100-percent student-led.

All proceeds from the event go to benefit the Students for Students Foundation, which was founded to create academic opportunities for those who qualified for higher education, but faced financial barriers in obtaining it.

“Personally, I am blessed to say I will be attending college next year, and we wanted to give this same opportunity to other Spain Park seniors as well,” Gupta said. “In the past three years, we have raised $27,000 and been able to truly impact the lives of students at our school. Our goal could not be accomplished without support from the community, and we are truly blessed with every single person who has helped us get where we are today.”

The organization accepts donations and sponsorships, and being a non-profit, the organization can write off each donation with a tax receipt.

Currently, there are 24 students, with three adult sponsors involved in the organization, Gupta said.

Tickets for the event can be purchased by going by Spain Park High School, or by creating a myschoolfees.com account and purchase the tickets online.

“We really hope we have a good turnout for the event, since this determines the amount of money we can give out to change students lives,” Gupta said.

For more information about the event, contact Gupta at (205) 541-7203.