With the heavy rain that came through Auburn Friday night not many people would be having outdoor activities on Saturday, unless you are associated with Air Force ROTC.
On Saturday, Feb. 23, the AFROTC hosted its annual Spaghetti Dinner at the Nichols Center.
The Spaghetti Dinner is hosted annually by the Arnold Air Society to help raise funds for their Squadron known as the John "Boots" Stratford Squadron.
"The Arnold Air Society is a special service organization devoted to promoting aerospace power," said Operations Officer, Cadet 1st Lt. Hannah Beals. "So what that really means is that we're an organization that's only open to Air Force cadets. We get together and do extra stuff. We do community service and work on our own things. It's a national organization that does amazing stuff throughout the country."
Activities that were available at the dinner on Saturday were volleyball, music entertainment, a water slide and don't forget the all you can eat spaghetti.
"We do it every year and we sell tickets to it," said Beals. "It's just a fun relaxed day where we can have fellowship among our society and bring people in to promote what we do on campus so people can see what Arnold Air is all about."
The spaghetti dinner has been going on at Auburn for about 10 years. It originated from Auburn previously hosting the annual Gamma Cup. This event allows AFROTC cadets from other schools an opportunity to get together in a social event highlighted by competitive sporting events.
"Auburn has a really long-standing tradition of winning the Gamma Cup," said Beals. "So it kind of came out of that because this weekend is usually Gamma Cup weekend. Everyone would come to that and we would make them all dinner and raise a little money for our squadron. It was a great way to interact with a bunch of different detachments throughout the Southeast."
The Gamma Cup is now hosted by Clemson University, but the spaghetti dinner and the fundraiser remained uniquely Auburn.
"Now it's just a tradition we do every year and it's just a great fundraiser. We make a profit and it's just fun."
Tickets were sold for $3 during the week or $5 if you showed up on Saturday, with the funds raised going to help the AFROTC.
"We have a National Conclave every year because the society is a national organization," said squadron leader Will Powell. "To send somebody to that is like $300 a person. So we do things like this to help raise money so we can send people to that."
They also hold events in the fall such as a Prisoner of War Missing in Action Day, with the funds rose going to support this initiative.
Powell believes that more importantly than raising money, it also is something that is fun and serves other purposes.
"It's huge," said Powell. "You get people out playing volleyball, having dinner together and socializing. It's a big morale boost for the people that are involved."
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
