ARLINGTON — The Arlington Lions Club hopes to help local students take a trip to the nation’s capitol through a night of music.

The Lions Club is sponsoring a concert at the Linda M. Byrnes Performing Arts Center Oct. 27 starting at 7:30 p.m. to raise funds for eighth-graders from the Haller and Post middle schools to go to Washington, D.C., during their spring break.

The North Cascade Concert Band will perform an evening of Gershwin tunes, and the evening’s proceeds will supplement the monies that the students themselves have raised over the course of the past few months to offset the costs of the trip.

“Our daughter, along with her mom, are working extra to go on this very educational and worthwhile trip,” Martel Hermann wrote in a fundraising letter. “The kids have been baby-sitting dogs, cleaning houses and anything else that they can come up with to earn the money it will take to pay for the trip. The economy is not helping, and odd jobs for adults, let alone children, are hard to come by.”

“This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these students,” said Karen Tendering of the Arlington Lions Club. “We are hoping for great attendance at this concert, so we can contribute a large amount of money to help the students.”

Hermann added that, due to a last-minute change in the dates of spring break, the entire trip had to be rescheduled, which substantially increased the costs of the students’ airfares and accommodations.

For more information, call Tendering at 425-350-3094.