Dinner benefits Nepal

The Cascades Academy MUSE Club will host a Himalayan Dinner and Silent Auction to support Ten Friends ( http://www.tenfriends.org ), a Sisters-based non-profit that supports a number of projects in Nepal. The dinner will be held December 12, 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Cascades Academy, 19860 Tumalo Reservoir Rd, Bend.

The evening will include speaker updates of Ten Friends Nepal projects, a raffle, a delicious dinner of Dal Bhat (Nepali dish of lentils and rice), a large silent auction, and lots of old and new friends of Ten Friends!

Photo provided

The 2024 Ten Friends contingent arrives in Nepal. L-R: Dinesh Khakurel, Hopeful Home Orphanage Co-Chairman; Louisa LaMarr, Past Cascades Academy Student; Jack Jacobi, Ava Riehle, Styopa Myagkov, Cooper Merrill, Ella Eby, Ten Friends Student Youth Corp representatives; Mark LaMont, Bruce Aberneth, and Mary Meador M.D., Ten Friends Board and sponsors; and Sunita Gurung, Himalayan Education Center Director.

Earlier this year in August, five high school students - Ella Eby, Cooper Merrill, Styopa Myagkov, and Ava Riehle of Sisters High School, and Jake Jacobi of Summit High School - accompanied Mark LaMont, Sisters High School teacher, Bruce Abernethy, current Ten Friends Board Chair, and Mary Meador, MD, on a life-changing month's adventure in Nepal.

Through the 20 years since Ten Friends began, Mark LaMont and Rand Runco, original founders and both long-time Sisters teachers, have taken over 65 high school students with them to Nepal where the students have benefitted from assisting Ten Friends with their projects (e.g. orphanages, girls school, libraries, water and sanitation). Many of these students have supported Ten Friends through the years in several different capacities. Styopa Myagkov, a local student who traveled with Ten Friends this year, will be speaking at the upcoming MUSE Club event about his experiences in Nepal. He also recently joined the Ten Friends Board of Directors as one of two student advisors.

To register for the upcoming MUSE Club event, visit Ten Friends Project ( http://www.tenfriends.org ).