The Bonney Lake DECA program is stepping up to put on it’s biggest event ever.

Last week, the program announced it will be organizing Bonney Lake’s 11th annual Death by Chocolate event, which was previously run by the city’s Lion’s Club.

To work up some hype about the event, the DECA team – led by Madi Vendoloski, Jessica Hobley and DECA President David Azure – put on a fundraiser where all the money raised in the Bonney Lake High School Den (the student-run school store) on Nov. 9 was donated to the Lions 4 Kids House.

The Lions 4 Kids House is a program run by the Lion’s Club that provides local kids with school supplies, personal care items and other resources so they can be successful in school.

With The Den open for extended hours that day, students raised more than $460 for the Lions 4 Kids program.

Death by Chocolate

According to DECA co-advisor Kristi Mileson, the school’s DECA program has helped out with the Death by Chocolate event for several years before hand.

But this year, the Lion’s Club was not planning on putting on the decade-old fundraiser, Mileson said.

That was, until the DECA program said they’d take it over.

Mileson said the program will be a challenge for the students to put on, but it will also be a great education.

“It’s daunting to the students to be involved with such a big event,” she said. “But it’s a good opportunity to grow, and make a part of Bonney Lake High School’s DECA legacy.”

Even though balancing their school schedules with volunteering for this program, “the reward will be amazing to see for them,” Mileson continued.

Vendoloski, Hobley and Azure are each in charge of various parts of the event.

Vendoloski will be taking over organizing the hospitality portion of the fundraiser by working with the Bonney Lake High School culinary team on a menu for attendees.

“This feels important,” she said. “I feel good to be giving to such a good place that gives to kids.”

Hobley is taking care of all social media announcements to get word out about the event.

Her father, as a hobby, runs the Discover Bonney Lake and Discover Enumclaw Facebook pages, and hopes to utilize those, as well as DECA’s twitter account (@BLHSDECA) to get people interested in attending the event.

Hobley said she’s excited to bring more people’s attention to both the Lion’s Club and DECA.

Azure, the lead of this project, is tackling all the entertainment and events at the fundraiser. It’s his job to organize the silent auction, line up speakers and find local entertainment to play at the event.

“This feels great,” he said. “Being able to bring this entire community together is an amazing feeling. It’s an honor to be able to organize this event. We just want to help our community as best we can.”

Death by Chocolate is scheduled for 5:30 to 10 p.m. April 9 at the high school.

Those interested in donating silent auction items can email Mileson at kristi_mileson@sumnersd.org for more information.