Hot dog!

Hot diggity! It was as classic a pairing as hot dogs and sauerkraut when the Lenox Parent Teacher Association partnered up with Fruit Tree Farm grocery for a tasty fund-raiser.

The PTA has spent the last two weekends at the market at 1197 Grand Avenue, selling franks donated by the grocery to raise money.

“It was Fruit Tree’s idea,” PTA Co-President Maritza Lopez enthused, giving credit where it was due. “I’ve been doing this a while, and this is the first time, going back years, that a store approached us for a fund-raiser, not the other way around.”

The store, with the help of Boar’s Head, provided the dogs and all the trimmings — onions, sauerkraut, bread and condiments — as well as an old-fashioned hot dog cart and umbrella.

The cost to buyers: $2, and that included a bottle of water and a small bag of chips.

The first weekend, Lopez said, the PTA netted a cool $1,170. “Do you know how many bake sales we’d have to have for that?” she said. “This was such a blessing. In the community it’s so hard to fund raise. So when they reach out to us it’s a blessing.” Profit from the second weekend totaled $757.

Fruit Tree office manager Kathleen Kirby credited her boss with the idea for the hot dog sale.

“My boss wanted to partner up with the PTA,” she said. “He asked me to reach out so I did.” She noted that the store usually partners on fund-raisers with the Baldwin High School PTA, but this time opted to work with Lenox.

A sign on the cart noted that every penny went to the school, and “some parents who didn’t eat hot dogs still donated,” Lopez said. “It was really nice.” Other customers gave the sellers a $5 bill to cover their costs and had the PTA keep the change.