Participants in tonight’s Tastebuds Jr. event at Lutz Elementary will enjoy great food for a great cause.
“Tastebuds Jr. is a fundraiser. The proceeds will benefit Best Buddies, and it is a spinoff of the fundraiser that Best Buddies Pittsburgh does,” said Eric Jankoski of Baldwin High School’s Best Buddies program.
The Best Buddies program aims to promote inclusion and social interaction for all students, giving everyone a chance to make new friends. The “buddies” text, talk, and socialize with each other.
This will be the second year for Baldwin’s fundraising event.
“It is a fun night for people to get together, eat some food, and make some money for our Best Buddies program,” Jankoski said.
Baldwin’s Tastebuds Jr. event is a scaled-down version of the larger Pittsburgh fundraiser, which takes place at the convention center downtown. At Baldwin’s event tonight, attendees will sample cuisine donated by local restaurants.
“Some of them include Gianna Via’s, Pasta Too, Salvatore’s, Rita’s, and then a couple of catering folks like Above & Beyond and Partyline,” Jankowski said.
The food isn’t the only draw for the event: Raffle tickets, a 50/50 drawing, and a digital photo booth will be available. Additionally, the Best Buddies Club will also be selling items created in their Innovation Shop.
“We make bookmarks and can coolers. We have done shirts and engraved pencils,” senior Samantha Niggel said. “We have a wood-cutting machine, so we do keychains and magnets too.”
This is Niggel’s second year volunteering for Tastebuds Jr, and she has seen the good it does firsthand.
“It has a great impact. It’s very rare to see so much of the community show up to support, and I feel like last year we had a really great turnout. I am expecting great things for this year,” Niggel said.
Niggel is one of many student volunteers working the event, making the community aspect of Tastebuds Jr. that much more significant.
“Students will help out with setup, check-in and registration. We have a photo booth where someone will be there to give instructions,” Jankowski said.
Senior Max Pegher is another student volunteer for the event.
“I helped serve food, set up the event, and clean up the event afterwards,” Pegher said.
Tastebuds Jr. has a big impact on the Best Buddies program, he said.
“It helps our club a lot. It raises a lot of money, generates a lot of business for us, and gets our name out there, especially for the Innovation Shop,” Pegher said.
