LATHROP – The Mexican-style fiesta and Mexican food buffet extravaganza to raise money for Lathrop Elementary School’s surveillance cameras is taking place today from noon to 6 p.m. Tickets to the event, called Spring King and Queen Fiesta & Mexican-American food buffet, is just a donation of $1 at the door. It’s being held at the school’s multipurpose building at the corner of Fifth and O streets next door to the school.

Each grade level will have a king and queen selected based on the number of tickets sold. Coronation will be held between 3 and 3:30 p.m. today.

The fund-raiser is a project of the students’ parents who were looking for a way to help raise the additional $27,000 that is needed to complete the installation of the school’s surveillance cameras. The project is nearly completed, thanks to a $40,000 grant the school obtained. The parents are hoping today’s effort will raise at least $10,000.

It was the “safety of our kids” which mobilized the parents to do something about the school’s surveillance cameras being installed. Their concern was triggered by scary incidents that happened at school last year when a student was accosted by a man, described as outsider, in the bathroom after school hours. The man reportedly exposed himself to the scared youngster. Lathrop School is the site for a number of after-school programs such as Give Every Child a Chance tutoring sessions and Boys and Girls Club activities.