Don't miss 'Black Hats and Pearls'

If your social calendar has an opening on Jan. 27, you’ll be hard-pressed to find better entertainment and a more worthy cause than the “Black Hats and Pearls” dinner and dance fundraiser for the Food Bank of Eastern New Mexico.

Eastern New Mexico University’s collegiate chapter of the Future Farmers of America is sponsoring the event, which features a sit-down dinner in Eastern’s Campus Union Ballroom, followed by an evening of toe-tapping, boot-scootin’ western swing music courtesy of Coby Carter and his band, 5 Miles West.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m., and the meal — which features bacon-wrapped pork tenderloins and flourless chocolate cake — will be served at 7 p.m.

There’s only one catch: If you want to fully participate in this affair, you must buy tickets by 5 p.m. this Friday. Tickets are $40 apiece, or if you can find seven friends you can snag a table of eight for $275.

Don’t shy from those prices — profits are headed straight to one of our best local resources, the Food Bank, where director Dianna Hernandez and her crew are able to magically transform dollars into dinners to serve the 14,900 folks who have been identified as hungry or at risk of hunger in the five counties served by FBENM, including Curry, Roosevelt, Quay, De Baca and Guadalupe.

Carter, a 21-year-old senior ag business major at ENMU, is a crackerjack fiddler who has entertained local audiences most of his life. He’s already racked up numerous awards for his music, and he and his band (Randy Dunson on rhythm guitar and harmony vocals, Brady Gandy on bass, Cameron Baker on lead guitar, Matt Harber on steel guitar, and Seth Pitman on drums) are “getting busier and busier every day,” Carter said.

A look back at their engagements for 2016 shows a schedule regularly dotted with benefit concerts, something that is a priority for Carter.

“I’ve lived here all my life,” he said. “We always believe it is good to give back to the community and help out when we can.”

Hernandez is delighted that FBENM is the lucky recipient for the upcoming event.

Event fundraisers are “very important,” she said, because “not only do they help us monetarily, but they bring attention to the Food Bank’s mission.”

In 2016, that mission included reaching more than 9,000 people every month, distributing 1.3 million pounds of food, and providing 15,000 bags of substantial snacks through the kids’ school backpack program.

“Your dollars go a long way in the food banking system,” Hernandez said. “Through our network of food banks and retailers, we can bring in food for just pennies on the dollar.”

A buck donated to the Food Bank can be converted into enough food for two meals.

Since tickets for the event must be purchased by Friday, clearly you’ll need to plan ahead for this one, but Carter said folks who miss out on the opportunity to buy a full ticket can still come later that evening to dance. There’s no set price, but for a good cause like this, please plan to tuck some extra dollars in your pocket, dig deep, and give generously.

To nab dinner/dance tickets by 5 p.m. Friday, call 575-309-8992, 575-309-6540, or 575-607-6951.

Betty Williamson knows that good guys sometimes wear black hats. You may reach her at: [email protected]