As a youth in Yarmouth, Maine, Travis Roy dreamed of playing Division I college hockey, but in October 1995, only 11 seconds into the first shift of his college hockey career at Boston University, his dreams were crushed when he shattered his fourth cervical vertebra, severely damaging his spinal cord.

Roy is now a quadriplegic, with no feeling below his shoulders and no movement in his legs or his left arm. But despite the tragedy, he returned to Boston University where he pushed himself to the limits to strengthen his right arm enough to feed himself and operate his wheelchair.

Rotarian William DiMento said Roy was asked to speak at the fund-raiser because he's an inspiration.

"Travis Roy is a young person who always maintained a positive attitude and never gave up hope, despite adversity. This is the kind of message we believe young people should receive," DiMento said.

Interact is Rotary International's service club for young people between the ages of 14 and 18. The clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, but the Interact clubs are self-governing and self-supporting. Swampscott Interact is only one of several clubs started by local Rotarians.

The Swampscott club started as the Teen Outreach Program of Swampscott, an organization at the high school, which expanded into Interact under the guidance of the Swampscott Rotary Club. Other North shore communities with active Interact clubs include Revere and Marblehead.

Through their service activities, members of the Interact club learn the importance of developing leadership skills, personal integrity, helpfulness, respect for others, advancing international understanding and the importance of individual responsibility and hard work.

SHS junior Hana Merkle, 16, is the current president of Interact, which has approximately 25 members. She said the all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner was the result of brainstorming sessions.

"We've been working with Rotary all year on finding ways to integrate the community and the students. We brainstormed all types of ideas to try to bring the community together and this is

what we came up with because dinnertime is a great time to bring people together," Merkle said.

Rotary Sergeant-at-Arms Gene Nigrelli has been dubbed the "head chef" for the event.

"We'll have real good Italian food- ziti, meatballs and more. I'm a great cook," he chuckled.

The dinner will be held on Saturday, Jan. 11 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria and is open to the public. Tickets are available from any member of the Rotary and at the door.

Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children under 12 and $8 for students. The money raised will go to purchase large print books for the high school library and to a new scholarship being established by Interact for high school students.