LEWISTON — The Lewiston Root Cellar recently held their commemorative banquet at the Green Ladle restaurant on the Lewiston High School campus.

The banquet is the largest annual fundraiser for the Lewiston Root Cellar and was an opportunity for them to showcase the vision that their organization has for improving the lives of those in downtown Lewiston. The evening also gave one teen, Tagwa Ali, an aspiring singer, the opportunity to perform alongside Root Cellar advocate Kate Demarest for an audience of approximately 300 people.

One of the more important aspects of the banquet was the Root Cellar’s ability to effectively increase their volunteer support base by communicating the variety of opportunities to participate.

Sarra and Azah Kabsoun surprised Root Cellar director Chris Pope with a gift as well as a personal thank you for providing them and their friends with a safe place to be as well as for just being available to them. The banquet also saw many of the at-risk youth that the Root Cellar serves giving back by volunteering as ushers and wait staff.

Michelle Neujahr, a motivational speaker, addressed the crowd and shared her similar background to many of the at-risk youth that the Root Cellar serves.

The Rev. Phil Strout, keynote speaker for the event, shared his experiences of working with similar youth in places around the world. Strout charged the audience to become actively involved and said, “It has to start somewhere, why not here? It has to start somewhere, why not now?”

For more information about the Root Cellar, call 782-3659.