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Friday, March 29, 2024

Jewelry. Baby sitting. Dinner for two, with wine, at Harvest in Harvard Square — or gift certificates for Om, Tory Row and Fire + Ice. Hot tub soaks at Inman Oasis. Card-making classes. Pilates. Latin dance lessons.

These are just a few of the raffle prizes and auction items at a Saturday event for Cambridge Rindge & Latin School’s France Exchange Program.

The goal is to raise about $5,000 that will give a “life-changing trip abroad” for some of the 14 student travelers who can’t afford it on their own, said trip leader and French teacher Margot Murphy. It will be the first two-way exchange program in a decade, with French students coming to Cambridge in April in return for our students traveling Feb. 12-22 to France.

The trip, to Versailles, Paris and Normandy, includes stays with host families and visits to the Louvre, Notre Dame, the opera and (of course) the Eiffel Tower.

In addition to the raffle and auction and charitable aspect, Murphy said, “It will be a lovely event — live music by student performers, including concert pianists, a New England Conservatory-trained aria singer, plus a French-music band.”

“The purpose is to fundraise,” Murphy said. “But it’s also a celebration and sendoff to honor the kids who are going.”

The event is to be held from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Freshman Academy’s campus gymnasium, 359 Broadway, with raffle tickets getting cheaper as more are bought: One ticket is $3, while four are $10 and a package of 10 costs $20.

Organizers Murphy, Kate Holmes and Rita Muraca urge that ticket buyers’ “generosity is essential.”

But there are significant rewards for that generosity, they note, with 49 auction items and 25 raffle prizes starting with the top prize of an overnight stay for two, with breakfast, at the Inn at Harvard. The package is valued at $300 — and parking is included, which alone is worth quite a few bucks in Harvard Square.

Update: A previous version of this article put the fundraising goal at $3,000 and included links to an event brochure and organizer’s e-mail and telephone.