Events/Calendars
	The Benefit Concert To Aid Survivors of the Asian Tsunami

A few weeks ago, Twelfth Grader Alison Wiggins and Eleventh Grader Javier Picayo approached Phil Kassen with a laudable but extremely ambitious, if not implausible, idea – they wanted to organize a benefit concert to aid survivors of the Asian tsunami. As Phil said the other night, we were thinking bake sales!

Alison and Javier, on the other hand, were proposing a concert that would bring together student talent, which seemed eminently doable (they are themselves two of our most talented performers), along with (this was the implausible part) professional performers from the Broadway stage. And they needed to do this soon, given the Broadway calendar (they had done their homework), the school calendar, and the urgency of the situation.

In the days that followed, with incredible energy, tenacity, astuteness and idealism Alison and Javier inspired the entire community. They got in touch with Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS and contacted individual performers and musicians. They recruited Frenchie Davis and Shayna Steele from Rent, Marty Thomas from Dreamgirls, Chester Gregory from Hairspray and others. They got donations of the sound and lighting equipment necessary to mount a Broadway caliber show. Parent volunteers pitched in. The High School Community Service Roundtable produced student volunteers to serve as technicians, stage managers and ushers and the Parents Association Community Service Committee provided posters and flyers to publicize the event. Though it all, Alison and Javier never lost their composure, their confidence, or their focus on the ultimate goal of all their efforts – to raise money for UNICEF’s relief and recovery efforts in Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia and other areas hardest hit by the tsunami.

What had started as an inspiring idea on the part of two students just a few short days before turned into a staggeringly glittering reality on Monday, February 7th. The concert was a magical event. Every seat was filled. Broadway stars engaged in intimate chat with the audience - a mix of parents and LREI students of all ages - and friendly competition with one another, belting out an unbelievable string of classic show tunes. Alison and Javier brought down the house with their own version of “As Long as You’re Mine” from Wicked. A representative from UNICEF recently returned from the region told a poignant story of visiting with an Indonesian school teacher, her school completely destroyed, sitting with her surviving students amidst the devastation - and of how elated they were when a truck from UNICEF arrived carrying school supplies and equipment. The show ended, to a standing ovation, with the entire cast singing a stirring rendition of “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray. It was a truly amazing experience for all of us. Most important, the concert achieved Alison and Javier’s goal by raising $13,000 dollars to support UNICEF’s relief efforts.

Recent events have forced all of us, students and families alike, to adopt a broader, global perspective when it comes to community service. When students returned from Winter Break last month they were hugely affected by the images on TV of destruction and desolation caused by the tsunami. Parents expressed their intense desire to respond to the disaster as a school community. The administration decided to follow the students’ lead.

The High School Community Service Roundtable immediately scheduled a series of meetings to plan an organized response to the crisis. The call went out for clothing, household supplies, medicine, toys and educational materials. By mid-January, students sorted, packed and shipped eighty large bags and cartons of desperately needed relief supplies to agencies on the ground in Sri Lanka and Sumatra. Cash donations were solicited as well - in the school’s lobbies and classrooms and at various school events such as the High School Coffeehouse, Karamu and last Friday’s Middle School Dance. Lower School students organized bake sales and went door to door in their neighborhoods to raise money. Students demonstrated idealism, energy and enthusiasm. Teachers supported and guided their efforts with their usual steadiness and flexibility. And parents responded with extraordinary generosity. So far, including the proceeds from the Benefit Concert, the LREI community has raised over $17,000 dollars and has donated significant quantities of desperately needed supplies for people living in the arc of destruction the tsunami left behind.

Social conscience, compassion, an abiding sense of human connection and the capacity for effective action on behalf of others - these are some of the core values that animate and distinguish this community and reflect the education we provide our children. In the past days and weeks LREI has been guided by these values in its response to the tsunami. Thank you to everyone who has joined in this important effort!