The Jasper Rotary Club has raised more than $10,000 for Haiti through a recent community dinner and donation from Marmot Basin, which will be used to purchase shelter boxes for the relief effort.

Rotarian Sandra Coombe said the club decided to cover all of the costs of the food at the community dinner and donate all proceeds to Haiti relief. They also organized an East Indian community dinner to appeal to a younger crowd, bringing in professional chef Bibhuti Nayak from Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge.

“The opportunity for a fundraiser made this dinner more special,” said Rotarian Alex Beztilny. “You get a great cross-section of the community – you see youth, professionals and seniors sitting together.

Coombe said planning a good meal helped bring more young people to the event, which proved to be the largest of the   year. More than 500 diners attended the east indian community dinner, which was also promoted on Facebook.

“There’s nothing worse than a bad curry,” Coombe said. “The chefs ensured it wasn’t too hot, but it was still authentic.”

Coombe also said the dinner provided an opportunity to celebrate some of the cultural diversity in Jasper.

“There’s no better way to do that than food,” Coombe said.

Fifteen rotarians, five JPL staff members and five community members worked to feed the massive crowds. Coombe credits the volunteers for ensuring the event went off without a hitch.

“This was a resounding success,” Beztilny said.

The Rotary club paid for the entire community dinner and decided to donate proceeds to the Rotarian Shelter Box program. The shelter box program supplies a roof and supplies to house 10 people, and can be erected for long periods of time. They were able to collect $1,200 in donations at the dinner – . Rotary added another $300 to that amount, which was then matched by the federal government to bring the total to $5,000.

Marmot Basin, who hosted the community dinner on Feb. 7, then stepped up with a $2,500 donation of their own, which was also matched by the federal government. Marmot Basin Comptroller Luc St. Jacques made the announcement at a Rotary luncheon, raising the total to $10,000, which will buy about 10 shelter boxes for Haiti.

The Rotary Club has made a commitment to continue aid to Haiti for three years.