Over 800 mostly non-perishable food and some personal hygiene items were collected in advance of or at the four evening holiday concerts held at Newark Middle School, Kelley School and Newark High School December 12-14th.
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Maria Walton, retired Perkins School music teacher who has spearheaded the food drive at Newark Central School District music concerts since 2017 is ecstatic about the substantial increase in the number of contributions this year at the December concerts more than any other previous years at concerts during the holiday season and the enthusiastic participation by music teachers and students that helped make it possible.
“The contributions this December were more than in any other concert season,’’ Walton said. “I really appreciate how the music teachers got students so motivated to contribute. The Newark Food Closet people were astounded with the amount that was collected.”
• 357 items were collected in school in advance of and right before the beginning of the 6th Grade Band/Chorus and Jazz Band Concert, at 6: 30 p.m. and the 7th and 8th Grade Band/Chorus and Jazz Band Holiday Concert at 7:30 p.m., Dec. 12th in the Newark Middle School Auditorium.
Melissa Viscusi, who directs Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Grade Chorus and teaches grades 6-8 General Music, helped bring the enthusiasm for making donations to a much higher level at NMS.
“When I was in high school, we used to do "Battle of the Bakers" every year for our holiday concert. Each ensemble (concert choir, chorus, concert band and wind ensemble) would battle it out for the Golden Rolling Pin and the Silver Rolling Pin by baking Christmas cookies and selling them at all of the holiday concerts to benefit our Friends of Music,” she said. “Whichever ensemble baked the most, would win the Golden Rolling Pin. I wanted my ensembles this year to bring in more non-perishables to help the community than previous years. Rebekah Valerio (who directs sixth, seventh and eighth grade Band and Jazz Band) and I got together. I told her about our challenge in school, and we ended up making the "Golden Can" award. Then, of course, Rebekah and I couldn't help ourselves, so we took it even one step further.
“If one of my Ensembles brought in the most goods, Rebekah would have to wear sparkles and Taylor Swift attire for an entire day, because that is my normal wardrobe. If one of Rebekah's ensembles brought in the most, I would have to wear all black, and a "Band Rules, Chorus Drools" t-shirt. Posters were made by Rebekah and I which we put in the main office, and we sent out numerous emails to the building about grabbing a poster to show their support so more students would participate. Kids were handing them out to their teachers, and even wearing them and putting it on their backpacks as they walked around school. Needless to say the students really wanted to see Rebekah in all sparkles, so chorus ended up winning. Sixth grade chorus came out on the winning side, and they will be holding onto the Golden Can Award until next year when we battle it all out again for our community. The Golden Can was made with help from the art teachers Lisa Stringer and Liz Miller, and they helped us make it with some paint and a lot of sparkles.
“Though everything was all fun and games, we also talked to our ensembles about the importance of helping those in need and who may be less fortunate than us around the holidays. The students learned a lot about giving, and spreading holiday cheer in a way that they may not have thought of before. All in all, we received 357 items for the Newark Food Closet. We had a blast, and we can't wait to do it again next year! The kids are already scheming to take down Band for a second year in a row.”
• 324 items were collected at Kelley School in advance and right before the Dec. 14th concert.
“Donations by band students were matched 1:1 by me,” said Cindy Briggs Kelley School instrumental music teacher who directs Beginning Band, Continuing Band and Bucket Brigade. “The deadline to bring in donations was December 13th. The day before we had 36 donations. I sent a quick reminder home about the deadline being the next day. By the end of the day 12/13 we had 146 donations. So . . . I went out Wednesday night shopping to match! With the additional that were brought to the concert Dec. .14th, we were able to donate 324 items to the Newark Food Closet from our Kelley School musicians and families!”
• 129 items, plus $35 in cash, was collected at Newark High School in advance and right before the Dec. 13th concert.
“At the high school, we put out reminders and I encourage students to bring in the food ahead of time. Whatever is under my Christmas tree before the concert, I matched that amount of items,” said Kate Flock, NHS vocal music teacher who directs Mixed Chorus, Concert Choir and Vocal Jazz.
Newark Food Closet President Lisa Barrett was amazed at the amount of food that was collected at the December concerts.
“It’s unbelievable what kids and parents contributed,’’ she said Dec. 15th. “I’m very proud of all who pulled together to help feed people in our community and elsewhere.”
Barrett said more and more people are coming to the food closet for help this year than previously “We had 10 to 15 families come in each day this week and we can hardly keep up with the demand, There are a lot of new people coming this year, Yesterday there were five new families.”
Barrett said the Food Closet, located in the basement of the Emmanuel United Methodist Church serves all of Wayne County and is open from 10 until noon Monday through Friday and the third Saturday of each month from 9-10 a.m..