Wylie residents dusted off their boots, enjoyed a plate of barbeque and opened their pocketbooks — all in the name of education.

The annual Boots N’ Barbeque Gala, the largest fundraising event for the Wylie Education Foundation, was held Saturday, Feb. 26 at Southfork Ranch in Parker. The event featured entertainment, live and silent auctions, a candy bar, and the much-anticipated game of Heads or Tails for a large cash prize. Proceeds raised at the event will be used to fund Wylie ISD teacher grants.

The doors for the event opened at 6 p.m., giving those in attendance a chance to browse the silent auction items.

McMillan Junior High School Dean of Students Levi Turner served as the master of ceremonies for the evening, Phillip Pierceall served as auctioneer and Jennifer Sanchez served as reporter, interviewing several teachers who received foundation grants, along with student Emalee Littleton of Achieve Academy who created an animation for the gala.

“You guys fund grants to make education more assessable,” Turner said. “You have grown unique ideas to connect better with students in the classroom, and in the last 20 years you have impacted more than 200,000 movement makers and Titanic thinkers.”

For the full story, see the March 3 issue of the Sachse News.