ROCHELLE – A spaghetti dinner fundraiser will be held tonight - Saturday, Feb. 15 - to help raise funds for kids to attend a Rochelle based retreat that takes place every summer.
R.O.C.K. — Reaching Out to Christ’s Kids — is a retreat that takes place every June and July in either Oregon or Leaf River. The retreat aims to help teenagers between the ages of high school and 20-years-old develop their faith or even lead them to Christ. The retreat includes many different games and activities, music and food for attendees.
Whether religious or not, everyone who attends has something to gain such as strengthening relationships with everyone they attend with.
“Going on the weekend really strengthened my relationship with all of my friends there as well as my boyfriend at the time who I ended up marrying,” explained Miranda Daugherty, R.O.C.K board secretary. “Even if they don’t get a whole bunch out of it as far as religion goes, they get a whole bunch out of it as far as friendship, and that is always important.”
Along with Daugherty, the current pastor and youth pastor at the Rochelle First Presbyterian church have attended previous R.O.C.K retreats.

With the main goal of bringing awareness to what R.O.C.K. is while also earning funds to waive the expenses for multiple kids looking to attend or volunteer in the future, R.O.C.K. will be hosting a spaghetti dinner fundraiser. The fundraiser will take place Feb. 15 at the Rochelle First Presbyterian Church, located at 1100 Calvin Road, from 4 to 7 p.m. The dinner will include spaghetti and gourmet desserts from Tyson Foods.
The servers at the event are all kids who have previously attended a R.O.C.K retreat so they can help answer first hand any questions guests may have.
“People can talk to the kids directly to get a first-person experience of what a R.O.C.K weekend is like,” explained Daugherty. “We will describe some of the music we play on the retreat as well as having some of our fun costumes out.”
Attendees can ask the R.O.C.K. kids anything they would like to know about the retreats.
Tickets for the event are $10 for adults, $5 for children ages 6 though 12, and free for kids five and under. Tickets can be purchased at the door. 
Funds earned through the event will be used to help cover the fee for future kids looking to attend either as a guest or as a volunteer.
“The funds that we make will go to paying the fee for kids to attend R.O.C.K., it is about a $100 for kids volunteering and attending,” added Daugherty. “So, we have sort of a scholarship set up and last year we were able to cover five kids in full for the two weekends.”
New this year, everyone that attends a R.O.C.K retreat will receive their own Bible and t-shirt.
While this is an annual event that is based in Rochelle and takes place two times a year, the goal of R.O.C.K is to start up a Wisconsin-based R.O.C.K within the next five years.