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By DAVE DOMESCIK | Staff Writer

PELHAM – The Pelham City Schools Foundation has announced a fundraising event to coincide with the Mardi Gras holiday.

The Pelham Mardi Party Casino Night Event will be held on Saturday, Feb. 1 at Windwood Equestrian.

“Come join us for a night of fun, dancing, delicious food and celebrate Mardi Gras style,” read a Facebook post from the Pelham City Schools Foundation. “You don’t want to miss this opportunity to support our Pelham City Schools Foundation as this is our largest fundraiser of the year to help to support our mission of promoting teacher excellence, ensuring student preparedness and showing our community pride.”

Formerly known as the Night of Purpose, the event has been reimagined for 2025 to incorporate a Mardi Gras theme. The event’s design is to raise money to provide additional resources to benefit the students and teachers in the Pelham City Schools system, while incorporating a night of music, dance and a silent auction with a fully functional Mardi Gras casino.

The event itself is for ages 21 and over, with tickets ranging between $50 and $75.

The event also has sponsorship opportunities for businesses and companies interested in supporting the Pelham City Schools Foundation. There are four tiers for sponsorship opportunities: the presenting sponsor, the High Roller sponsor, the Jackpot sponsor and the Royal Flush sponsor.

The presenting sponsor will have their sponsor logo predominantly featured on all marketing and print materials at the event. Social media posts from the event will feature the presenting sponsor’s logo. Furthermore, the presenting sponsor will receive 10 VIP tickets for the event. It costs $3,000 to be the presenting sponsor.

The High Roller sponsorship costs $1,500 and the sponsor will have their logo featured on casino tables. Social media posts from the event will feature the High Roller sponsor’s logo, and the High Roller sponsor will receive six VIP tickets.

The Jackpot sponsorship costs $1,000, with the sponsor’s logo featured on casino tables, social media posts featuring the sponsor’s logo and four VIP tickets included.

Finally, the Royal Flush sponsorship costs $500. The sponsor will have their name on casino tables, social media posts featuring their name and two VIP tickets.

Martina Winston is a member of the executive board of the Pelham City Schools Foundation. She gave her thoughts on what she wants the event to look like.

“We want this event to be the ultimate parents, teachers, city employees and sponsors night out,” Winston said. “With no worries except for having a good time while supporting our school system. We are better when we can come together as a community to pour into our children, our teachers and our community.”

Winston also recognized the shift in the event’s focus, and why it occurred.

“We listened to previous participants and wanted to focus on what our community wanted while also balancing financial stewardship,” Winston said. “We want this to be a highly sought-after (from a sponsorship standpoint) and attended event with a high level of celebration and fun.”

The funds for the event, according to Winston, go directly into Pelham City Schools and Pelham City Schools only.

“The Pelham Mardi Party will be the largest fundraiser of the year for the foundation,” Winston said. “All funds raised for and during the event will go directly back into our schools to support our three pillars: teacher excellence, student preparedness and community pride. We are committed to our mission, our key areas of focus benefit large numbers of students and teachers and are consistent with the strategic objectives of the Pelham City Schools Board of Education.”

Winston finally emphasized that without the community, this event wouldn’t exist at all.

“We cannot do this event without the community support,” Winston said. “We know how much the success of our school system means to the Pelham community so we hope there would be excitement to attend, participate and/or sponsor to ensure the event’s success. And who doesn’t like a good party?”

For more information on the Pelham City Schools Foundation’s Mardi Gras fundraising event, visit the PCSF’s website at Pelhamcityschoolsfoundation.org.