Fame For Haiti at Gorham
High School to Benefit
The Haiti Relief Effort
Gorham High School student Jon Day, a cast member of the show “Fame,” approached GHS
Musical Director Bruce Avery about whether there was a possibility of adding an extra
performance of Fame with all proceeds to benefit the relief effort in Haiti. Jon was also quite clear that simply raising money was not enough. He and his fellow cast members wanted to raise awareness of the fact that this was still an on-going crisis.
When asked how this idea came about Jon stated, “The idea came to me in Chamber singers. Our teacher suggested doing a benefit chorus concert. This sounded like a great idea but I also realized that one showing of our musical would bring in a much greater amount of money. When suggested to the class, which is made up almost entirely of cast members, they all jumped at the idea to raise funds, and more importantly, awareness. This is something extremely important to me because I have been extremely fortunate to have people step up and help me in life when I needed it and now it’s my turn to give back.” Normally the musical set comes down the day of the last performance. Jon's idea would require leaving the set up an extra week. The high school administration was quite supportive of the idea and helped to make sure that the set could co-exist with upcoming events.
Jon summed up the sentiment of the Cast by saying, “Being on stage in ‘the spotlight,’ so to
speak, puts the entire cast in an amazing position to really reach out to the entire community and show just how willing Gorham is to help out.” So because of one student's idea which was supported by the cast of Fame at Gorham High School and the generous support of Norway Savings Bank who is sponsoring the cost of the performance, the lives of hundreds and perhaps thousands of people on Haiti will be better. There is no doubt that the town of Gorham has raised a remarkable group of students, it truly does "take a village to raise a child"
The Haiti Benefit Performance of Fame took place on Friday, March 26. A core group of about a dozen cast members met daily to accomplish in 10 days what normally would take 3 or 4 months, preparing a Benefit event for an expected crowd of about 500 people. Area businesses have rallied around the Benefit, contributing food for the pre-show hors d’ouevres and desserts at intermission as well as cash, lighting equipment, products for a raffle and of course the very large donation by Norway Savings Bank to underwrite the royalties for the evenings performance. The Cast’s goal is to raise $6,000.00
In addition to the ticket sales and a silent auction of show costumes, the students made and sold
ribbon pins to patrons to spread awareness beyond the doors of Gorham High School. The students are also producing an informational video which will run before the show and during intermission.
There are also plans in the works for a trip to NYC to hand deliver the proceeds to the Clinton
Foundation offices. Jon Day reviewed almost four dozen organizations that are providing
assistance and relief in Haiti before recommending the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to the Cast. “One of the main objectives of the Cast was that as much of the total monies raised reach the people in need in Haiti. 100% of all funds given through the Clinton Foundation will go directly to relief efforts. In addition this fund is focused on not only aid to help end the immediate suffering, but on long term aid to help the people of Haiti get back on their feet.”
In an email to the Maine Friends of Haiti website
that was sent on March 27, Jon Day said,
“Last night was an amazing success. We had a total of $4186 dollars in our hands to go straight to Haiti. We also have a potential $200 more in progress as we have not received all the money from the silent auction. Citizens that NEED to be recognized are the Kerwin family, The Tanguays, The Averys. As for students, Luke Tanguay, Nick Reynolds, Mike Walsch, Tyler Patten, Mitch Perrin, Mariah Mallory, Nicole Avery, and Ian Hawkes were all essential in the success of the project. I would also like to especially thank Kim Block from channel 13 news, for getting us a video spot, as well as Lori Vornis from the Q morning show for giving us radio air time. Thanks so much for all of your help, and we hope more will be inspired by Fame for Haiti, and do what they can to Help the world.”