| APRIL 6, 2013 -- For Woodland Regional High School senior Mary Fitzgerald lending a helping hand is a song and dance.
Fitzgerald will host a concert at 7 p.m. April 27 at The Grange Hall in Prospect. The concert will feature songs and dance routines by 14 Woodland students, including Fitzgerald.
“The concert will be a love themed event with most of the songs featuring love or inspirational lyrics,” Fitzgerald explained in an email.
However, the concert isn’t just to showcase the talents of the Woodland students; rather it is to raise money to benefit the DePalma family of Prospect.
The DePalma family, who has been family friends with the Fitzgerald family for 15 years, has suffered losses and hardships over the past year, Fitzgerald explained.
“The original goal of the concert was to only donate money to the Harold Leever Cancer Center to help with research of breast cancer. However, Karen DePalma recently lost her battle to breast cancer on Dec.31, 2012 and immediately I decided to split the donation money to help with the DePalma children’s education fund and to go to the Leever Cancer Center,” Fitzgerald wrote.
According to the flyer for the concert, Joe DePalma, who could not be reached for comment, has also been battling cancer for the past four years and has recently undergone his second surgery, from which he is recovering.
The money raised from the concert will go into a college fund for his children Joshua, 13, and Jessica, 8.
When Fitzgerald decided that she wanted to help, she thought she should do something that she was both good at and would draw a large crowd.
“I decided to undertake a concert as my senior project because I have been performing in shows since I was 10 and I thought that doing something that I have experience in would be the most beneficial for me. I love to perform and see others perform so I thought this concert would be the perfect opportunity to allow my friends and me to put on a show,” Fitzgerald wrote.
Fitzgerald said putting on a concert has been no easy task, and she has run into problems, such as where to hold the event. However, she is confident the show will go off without a hitch.
“It is a big task putting together a whole music event but with the help of my family and friends, the process has been easier,” Fitzgerald wrote.
Tickets for the show are $10 and can be purchased by contacting Fitzgerald at (203) 758-5891. Those who are unable to make the show but still wish to make a donation may do so by contacting Fitzgerald. Seating for the event is limited.
“Please come out and support this very worthy cause,” Fitzgerald wrote. |
