On Friday, August 4th, Landmark Construction stepped in to cook dinner for over 500 parents, teachers, students and staff at Newcastle Elementary School’s Welcome Back BBQ. Each year, Newcastle Elementary School celebrates the beginning of a new school year with the tradition of posting class assignments up on the windows of the school and meeting their newly assigned teacher over delicious barbeque food.
This year, it was not a certainty that Newcastle would be able to execute this annual tradition. The news made its way to Landmark’s President, Joe Bittaker, who offered to put on the event for Newcastle Elementary. Principal David Cory was surprised by Joe Bittaker’s generous offer and asked, “Are you really serious about sponsoring the entire barbeque?”
Joe was happy to provide the food, even as the event expanded from 125 to 300, and finally 500 as the school community, students and their parents RSVP’d to the back to school BBQ. Not only did Landmark agree to pay for the food, Joe and employees brought the company barbeque equipment and spent the afternoon cooking for the event. Project Engineer Brian Powell, stepped in to lead the Landmark barbeque team. Randy Peters Catering also provided side dishes to accompany the barbequed buffalo, Tri-tip, burgers, hotdogs and chicken.
“I can’t believe this spread!” Raenel Toste, CBO, Newcastle Elementary School District, said when looking at the display of food.
Newcastle’s campus was filled with students, their parents, teachers and even community members such as the Newcastle Fire Department. The halls were filled with cacophonous sounds of excitement as students talked with their new teachers and exchanged adventures from summer.
This exciting event also memorializes the completion of the first phase of Newcastle Elementary School’s facility improvement program. This improvement program includes 30,000 square feet of asphalt paving, exterior improvements at hard courts, frontage improvements, and ADA improvements. The next phase will include classroom upgrades.
