Dinner with Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood? Bidding starts at $7,500

OTTAWA — If you could sit down to dinner with someone famous who would it be? If your answer is Ottawa Senators centre Mike Fisher and/or his country-singing wife, Carrie Underwood, then check this out: the couple has volunteered to be dinner dates with the highest bidder at a charity event happening Tuesday.

The opening bid is $7,500.

The fundraiser is being held by brothers Richard and Robert Valente, owners of Fratelli restaurant. The $150-a-ticket night is taking place at their Kanata location on Terry Fox Drive and will raise money for the Ottawa Senators Foundation’s charity of choice, the Roger’s House pediatric palliative care facility, as well as Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Support Programs.

Fisher has been a loyal customer and good friend over the past decade, Richard Valente said. The hockey star is also honorary chairman of Roger’s House.

“Anytime I do something (charitable), I call him and he’s quick to say ‘Yes’,” said Valente. “This time he said, for the first time ever, ‘Throw in a dinner with me and Carrie’.”

The dinner with Fisher and Underwood will take place in the winning bidder’s home, along with seven guests. A four-course meal will be prepared and served by Fratelli staff.

The 100 tickets to Tuesday’s dinner and auction have long since sold out and non-guests are not allowed to bid. Fisher is expected to be at the Fratelli event, which is now in its seventh year and has raised nearly $200,000 for children’s charities. Valente said he doesn’t know whether Underwood will attend.

Also being sold off is a trip for two to Italy with a bon voyage dinner with Senators centre Jason Spezza and his wife, Jennifer, at Fratelli’s Westboro location. Guests can also bid on a street hockey game with Senators players Chris Campoli and Jesse Winchester and a fun jaunt to Tremblant, via private plane, to golf and dine with defenceman Chris Phillips and his wife, Erin. Phillips is honorary chairman of Candlelighters while Erin sits on the board.

The hockey team’s president, Cyril Leeder, is expected to attend along with many of the players, including team captain Daniel Alfredsson.

Foundation president Danielle Robinson said it’s because of partners like Fratelli restaurant that the foundation can help so many kids in the community. “These are really busy business people and yet they take time out of their schedules to give back to the community and work with us,” said Robinson.

Source: The Ottawa Citizen