By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
The draw for this year’s Shelter from the Storm event isn’t just a concert and fun fair it’s providing communities in Haiti and Honduras with water filtration systems, the students organizing the event said.
”There’s so much stuff to do,” Gina Blechman, a junior, said. “The concert is three hours of teachers and students you get to listen good music and see people you know. The fun festival has kids’ games, and a non-athletic decathlon that has thumb wrestling and staring contests.”
”Just the cause is enough for people to want to come out,” she added. “So many people are sick or dying because they don’t have clean water.
Unlike prior years, the event will occur over a two-day period this year, with the concert being scheduled from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. March 27, and the fun fair being scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. March 28. In addition to games at the fun fair, the event will feature a basket auction with gift certificates to local restaurants. Residents participating in the all ten non-athletic decathlon events will be entered in a raffle for a $100 prize too.
”In the past it’s been on one day, and we’ve found that the concert was hard to get to for people coming from the fun fest,” Tracey Jameson, high school teacher and advisor for the school’s Interact Club, said. “We’re hoping to make a whole weekend out of it.”
Proceeds from both events will be used to purchase water filtration systems for a school in Haiti and a town in Honduras. While the students hope to raise $6,000 altogether $3,000 would go to each cause the students want to exceed that goal.
Many clubs at the school contribute to the Shelter from the Storm event, whether by organizing it, running booths at the fun fair, securing basket donations for the basket auction, and securing catering.
”It incorporates the whole school,” Ms. Jameson said. “It’s not one organization. It’s not one club. It’s a school-wide charity event. It’s heartwarming.”

