Hotel school students in the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology have volunteered to prepare, cook, and serve a gourmet dinner for 30 guests which will be auctioned off to the highest bidder during the Galway Lions Club ‘live’ Galway Bay FM auction tomorrow (Friday ).
The students will prepare the 30 five-course gourmet meals under the supervision of college lecturers Martin Ruffley, John Long, and Colin Gilligan, and serve the meals in one of GMIT’s Hotel School training restaurants on Thursday February 2.
The Galway Lions Club live radio auction takes place on Galway Bay FM’s Keith Finnegan Show which will be broadcast from the Eyre Square Shopping Centre on Friday from 9am.
This is the sixth year that GMIT Hotel School students and staff have donated this gourmet prize to the Lions Club Christmas auction. The prize may be sold in one lot of 30 people, divided into two or three lots enabling two or three groups of 15 or 10 people, respectively, the opportunity to make separate bids at the auction. All proceeds go directly to the Galway Lions Club Christmas appeal.
Students from GMIT have been supporting the Galway Lions Club for more than 30 years through a range of fundraising activities such as the annual making and sale of Christmas puddings to staff and friends of GMIT, street collections, carol singing, fashion shows, the gourmet meal prize, and other events guided by staff from the Hotel School.
Cáit Noone, head of the Hotel School, said the school is delighted to support this initiative and give something back to the greater Galway community. “Each year from October to December our students take time out from their studies to find ways to fundraise for this great local organisation,” she added. “Everyone involved gives up their time and energy to help others who are disadvantaged in our community and region.”
Culinary arts lecturer John Long said the GMIT hotel students came up with this idea some years ago and have continued to offer the meal experience since. “Students benefit from being involved in such a meaningful event as part of their civic engagement within the wider community,” he said. “Organising and hosting these events helps develop skills the students will continue to use in their chosen career paths.”
Galway Lions Club president Seamus Staed added: “The continued support of the GMIT Hotel School is most important to the efforts of the Lions Club throughout the year, and particularly at this time of year. Last year we helped out 700 individuals and families and we know that this year the overall environment is even more challenging.”
