A successful charity is only as good as its volunteers, and we have a lot of people to thank for the success of the Warm the Children Weekend on Nov. 13-14.
As you may recall, the weekend kicked off with a visit by Debbie and Hilary Phelps, mother and sister of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps. Debbie and Hilary visited classes at Keyser Primary-Middle and New Creek Primary schools, then held a book signing at Main Street Books before joining in the Warm the Children Open House that evening at Peebles.
Then, on Saturday, the first Warm the Children Bluegrass Concert was held at Keyser High School and was so successful that the musicians just kept right on playing and they almost had to throw us out of the KHS theater so they could lock up and go home.
Of course, the purpose of the weekend, in addition to drawing attention to the good works of Warm the Children, was to help raise funds to provide warm winter clothing for area needy children.
According to coordinator Kelli Wittman, the two-day event raised $4,279.
Broken down, that is $1,538 in donations received Friday, $90 from Photos with Santa, $1,530 in concert ticket sales, $81 in donations received Saturday, and $1,040 raised by the $100 raffle.
The winner of the raffle, incidentally, was John Parker of Keyser, who donated his cash prize back to WTC.
For the success of the weekend, we have many thanks: To Kathy Fazenbaker, the manager of the Keyser Inn, for donating lodging for the Phelpses; Long & Foster, for sponsoring the remote broadcast by Allegany Radio; Amanda Mangan, Jenny Wheaton, Jerry Hannahs, Kristi Devore, and Cathy Kimble of Allegany Radio; Susan Oates, the manager of Peebles; Charles Wimer, principal of Keyser High School; Marlee Fitzgerald of Life Images, who took the photos with Santa; Karen Riley, assistant principal at KPMS; Robin McDowell, principal at New Creek Primary; Cindy Pyles of Main Street Books; Randy Shoemaker (Santa Claus); Superintendent of Schools Skip Hackworth, who waived the custodian fee at KHS; Michaela Bush, who provided the festive holiday music; Joe Winebrenner, who coordinated the bluegrass concert; the members of Highland Grass, Black Diamond, Gene & Joe and the Valley Troubadours and all the musicians who donated their time for the concert; Dave Stickley, who helped the musicians set up and tear down; and Laisee Rintal of the Octogon Agency, who helped arrange the visit by Debbie and Hilary Phelps.
And of course our WTC volunteers who worked in some capacity or another over the weekend: Liz Beavers, Sandy Canfield, Juanita Cosner, Sheila Golden, Kathy Murphy, Cecilia and John Schmidt, Mary Ann Shoemaker, Becky Shook, Carolyn Williams, and Glenda Zais.
If we have missed anyone, we sincerely apologize. With such a big event, it is hard to keep track of everyone who had a part in its success.
Just please know that your help was invaluable ... to use but more importantly to all those children out there who will have a warmer winter thanks to you and Warm the Children.
Keyser, W.Va. —
