Delta College’s annual fundraising event has again satisfied sweet tooths and provided funds for Delta’s Possible Dream program.
By Norman Corrion
A Chocolate Affair offers good food, music, a dancing duck and cake to attendees. The event starts with an amazing buffet of food while Delta’s Flute Choir provides music. Pasta, meatballs, beef brisket, salads, cut fruit and more adorn tables.
As guests finish eating, they begin socializing and admiring the 27 tortes–fancy multi-layered cakes–on display. Some visit another room to find a dance floor with the Delta Duck dancing as Jedi Mind Trip plays. Slightly before 8 p.m. everyone begins lining up, and at 8 p.m. the cake cutting begins and plates fill with a variety of cakes.
The night feels magical, yet something far more important is happening; over 600 guests are providing funds for Delta’s Possible Dream program. The program provides opportunities for hundreds of students and aims for them to achieve success in high school and college.
Possible Dream program participants are selected based on academic and socioeconomic criteria. Students must also be in grades sixth through eighth and from Bay, Midland or Saginaw counties to join. Once in the program students are provided with opportunities they might not get otherwise that encourage success.
“They’re doing well in school. We want to keep them doing well, and stay involved, and graduate high school, and then you hope they go on to college,” says Becky Barber, the Special Event and Donation Coordinator at Delta.
Students do team building activities, make lifelong friends and explore careers with no expense to them. Students visit places like zoos and architectural firms to see all the different career paths they offer, and those interested can even get job shadowing opportunities.
The program has helped lead students into their desired career paths, and past students have earned degrees in law, medicine and more. Around 2,500 students have been through the program, and those that graduate high school have an opportunity for a scholarship at Delta.
“We have 83% of our students graduate and go on to college somewhere; over 50% of them attend Delta,” says Barber.
Barber explains organizing the event can be nerve-wracking as she is asking for money from sponsors. The event features different levels of sponsorship, with categories reaching up to $12,000. The event is well planned and even things like the cake purchases aim to support Delta’s counties. Delta uses four local bakeries with at least one from each county in its districts.
While the exact number isn’t known for this year, the event usually nets between $80,000 and $120,000 for the Possible Dream program.
More information on the Possible Dream program can be found on their website.
