2010 Shelter From the Storm 5 is Here!

The dates of the event are April 9 (concert) and April 10 (festival).

History -- The organization started as a one-off charity event to help Katrina survivors and has evolved into something much larger. We're thrilled with the money we've raised for worthy causes, but we've had an even larger impact via character education, inculcating the spirit of service in hundreds of students (and faculty and staff).

The Issue -- American veterans wounded in action.

Concert -- A repeat of the success of last year with a good NJ band as headliner and students, alumni and faculty performers throughout the show.

Education -- Gary Keck's subcommittee will prepare a set of lesson plans and materials for teachers to use. It will be distributed after midterms, probably the first week in February. Tracey Jameson suggested we put a copy of each packet in common rooms (work rooms, mail rooms) for easy reference. We'll also email a computer copy to everyone and send one packet to each department, hopefully to be introduced at the respective department meetings.

T-shirt order has been placed. We should have them to sell starting first or second week in January. Sizes range from Small to XXL.

Outreach/Speakers -- Julia Libeskind and Gil Pilarte detailed a group of guest speakers that have been booked and are going to be booked. We've decided to forego the assembly approach and instead have the speakers visit classrooms. Bob Fenster raised the idea of contacting alumni who have served in the military to see if they would want to talk about their experiences, either direct or indirect, regarding wounded soldiers. Tom Masnica, John Conroy and Ryan Sealsky (sp?) were suggested as possible speakers. Julia indicated that a neuro-psychologist and a brain injury expert (among others) will be visiting during Shelter week (the first week of April).

Book drive -- Shawn Layton is providing space for storage and we're getting a steady supply of donations from teachers and students, in addition to some from the community. We don't have anyone officially organizing this yet, but Gary said he'd talk to Rich Bencivenga and Writers' Circle, as they are a natural fit. The auxiliary gym will be an excellent location for the book sale, though we are going to have to make sure we reserve it the night before for setting up the sale. Elisabeth said she'd handle that.

Blog -- Jeff Kampf suggested the creation of a Shelter blog to provide updates and encourage involvement by students. He will be spearheading that project (we always reward good ideas). Here it is!

Food -- Lynne Biegel reported that Sodexo has agreed to cater the festival, though we haven't fleshed out the details. Elisabeth urged Lynne to make sure that the food would be carnival-style food and not the same as the food that they regularly serve. Lynne said that Sodexo has no problem with our conducting a concurrent bake sale and selling drinks. As Sodexo will be able to use their kitchen and serving area it will free up space and basically take a huge load off of the festival organizers, not having to deal with an outside caterer or handle the food ourselves. The consensus among the Shelter Committee is that we don't have to make any profit from the food, just have plenty of options to keep the kids happy (and at the event!).