close

Area schools rally around Elizabeth Forward in aftermath of fire

By Katherine Mansfield staff Writer mansfield@observer-Reporter.Com 6 min read
1 / 2

Photos: Courtesy of Laura Shipley

A previously scheduled fundraiser Monday evening for Charleroi Area High School Marching Band became a joint event, with half of all proceeds benefitting Elizabeth Forward High School. Aimee Telegraphis, Julianne Childs and band booster President Melissa Lancy are pictured here beside Chinese auction raffle baskets inside Foster House II during the successful evening of fundraising.

2 / 2

When Charleroi learned about the devastating fire at Elizabeth Forward, the Mon Valley community donated additional raffle items to Charleroi High School Marching Band’s Monday evening fundraiser at Foster House II. Charleroi was proud to announce it raised $1,000 for EF.

Area schools are raising money and collecting donated musical instruments for Elizabeth Forward School District after a fire over the weekend destroyed the high school auditorium, choir and band rooms, including instruments, uniforms and sets for the musical.

Elizabeth Forward’s marching band left for Florida Tuesday to compete at Disney World. While the band competes down south, Mt. Lebanon music director Jason Cheskawich is leading efforts to raise money to help restore Elizabeth Forward’s music program.

“I didn’t have any news on Sunday morning. I started getting texts from friends, people on my band staff,” said Cheskawich, whose wife, also a music teacher at Mt. Lebanon, suggested the couple host a fundraiser on social media.

“It is a very close-knit community. We all have a tendency to know each other. Elizabeth Forward’s band director, his father was my band director when I was in high school. Even if you may be competitors on the field, at the end of the day we’re all doing the same thing. You want to lift each other up as best you can. You want to help each other out and take care of everybody. I’m just happy that this is generating as much money as it is.”

When Cheskawich and his wife launched the music program fundraiser for EF late Sunday, the couple figured their Mt. Lebanon community would donate a couple hundred dollars to the cause.

By 2 p.m. Monday, word had spread on social media, and other area school districts, former band students and their families had contributed more than $15,000 to the fundraiser.

When Cheskawich’s alma mater, Charleroi Area School District, learned about the fire, the high school band was quick to lend a helping hand.

“The music community is a very tight-knit family, and we take care of each other. It goes without saying when there’s an extraordinary need, we’re all going to lend a helping hand,” said Laura Shipley, marching band director and choir director for grades six through 12. “When we heard what happened, we just knew that we had to do something.”

Charleroi High School marching band had scheduled a fundraiser Feb. 13 at Foster House II. Shipley and her band boosters board agreed to split fundraising proceeds with Elizabeth Forward, and collected separate donations for EF during the prescheduled event. The community contributed several last-minute baskets to Charleroi’s Chinese auction, Shipley said.

“I’m really proud of this: Our little band, we’re going to be sending Elizabeth Forward a donation of $1,000,” Shipley said.

During Charleroi High School’s spring production of Tarzan, which runs March 3 through 5, 50/50 raffle proceeds will benefit Elizabeth Forward, and a donation box for EF will be set up near the front of the auditorium.

“They were in the midst of musical season. These extravagant sets and costumes and music and technology, they lost all that too. Every school is reaching out in their own way and helping,” Shipley said. “No one’s looking for publicity. Everybody wants to help. We did what we did not for any other reason that it was the right thing to. We know that one of these schools, and one of these music programs, will do, have done, the same for us.”

Opening night of Elizabeth Forward’s spring musical, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” was scheduled for mid-March, but has now been postponed. Peters Township Thespian Troupe No. 185 is raising money for its theater brothers and sisters.

“We had a production delay last year for our musical. We understood what the students were going through, not to this magnitude,” said Peters Township producer Kristianna Gizzi. “A lot of people think, just pick it up and go perform it somewhere else. They can’t do that.”

Gizzi said planning begins at least one year before opening night, and a show’s budget covers play or musical rights, costumes, set construction, music and lighting, programs and tickets.

“Everything that they’ve lost, I just can’t even imagine. It’s really devastating. They are determined to put this show on and that’s where we came into play,” Gizzi said.

Students approached her and the boosters, eager to do something to help Elizabeth Forward. The thespian troupe is collecting donations for EF now through Feb. 28 on Venmo (search @Kristianna-Gizzi) and by check made payable to PTThespianbackers.

“Being in a production for high school students is so much more than four performances. It’s their life for those four or five months. They’re all working toward this goal. In one evening, for it all to be just brought to a close, it’s devastating for adults, let along high school students,” said Gizzi. “I’ve been working in the theater for over 25 years. The theater community is such a family. It’s an amazing bond that you have. We’ve already received an enormous amount of donations. I’m really touched and really happy that we can help this way.”

Gizzi said Pittsburgh stands behind Elizabeth Forward, and other area districts are rallying around the district.

Canon-McMillan School District tweeted support for EF Monday, while students and staff at Ringgold and South Fayette school districts donned black and red Tuesday.

South Allegheny High School Marching Band is hosting a fundraiser Feb. 20 at Primanti Bros. in Pleasant Hills. All proceeds benefit Elizabeth Forward, SAHS announced on social media Monday. Those interested in dining out for a cause are encouraged to take the flyer, found online https://www.facebook.com/southalleghenyband/, to Primanti’s between 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The Elizabeth Forward superintendent could not be reached for comment by press time, but those working to alleviate the devastation of Sunday’s fire through fundraising and awareness raising are profoundly grateful for the community’s response to their efforts.

“We’re all blown away,” said Cheskawich. “I can’t believe this took off the way it did.”

Mt. Lebanon will be collecting donations for Elizabeth Forward through Feb. 19 via Venmo. Search username @Jason-Cheskawich.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today