Fire department caps off high school's good deed
Lakeside High School band members got a piece of the Big Apple after all.
After some members of the Lakeside High School band donated theater tickets to New York firefighters, the New York City Fire Department sent 144 of the highly coveted blue NYFD caps to the students.
"In these difficult times, when conflicts abroad and fiscal crises as home consume the news, your generosity was especially important to members of the Fire Department - many of whom, in fact, made a point to tell me how much they enjoyed the Broadway performances and appreciated the tickets," New York Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta wrote in a thank-you letter to the students.
Lakeside and Greenbrier high school bands had planned to go to New York the week of April 2-6, but school officials made the decision to cancel travel plans because of the conflict in Iraq and the looming threat of terrorism.
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Plans were to go to New York, play a concert at the Statue of Liberty, see two Broadway plays - 42nd Street and Phantom of the Opera - and tour Manhattan. The groups canceled in time to receive a partial refund on the $650 trip, but were stuck with the two sets of $75-apiece theater tickets.
Lakeside High School band members received New York firefighter caps after they sent their unused Broadway show tickets to the fire department.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
While some sold them on eBay or sent them to relatives who lived in the area, some Lakeside High students decided to donate their tickets to the New York Fire Department - 102 tickets in all, said Sharon Nichols, band booster president. The hats were an unexpected surprise, she said.
"They are the NYFD navy blue caps you see on TV and they sent enough for everybody in the band. When 9-11 was going on, they were auctioning off these hats on eBay. I think it's great they sent them to us," she said.