2-28-2023 4:05am

Make the Community a Winner; Buy a Chicken Dinner

Lesley Misko Editor

If you buy a chicken dinner, you will help music students throughout the Boyertown Area School District be winners. And you will be a winner too!

This year's chicken dinner, sponsored by the Boyertown Area Schools Music League, will take place Saturday, March 4, between 12:30pm - 4:30pm, at the Middle School West cafeteria. However, all dinners must be purchased in advance at this website. Payment can be made via credit card or Pay Pal.

The dinners are from Kauffman’s Bar-B-Que, and include barbecued chicken, baked potato, applesauce, bread and butter. In addition, a beverage of choice and dessert, both donated by Music League members, will be added to the dinners.

Becky Puleo, president of the Music League, explains that this fundraiser is organized by school district music teachers and all of the profits are divided up and placed directly in each teacher’s account to help fund their programs and opportunities for students.

Puleo says dinners can be “grab and go,” but she “encourages everyone to eat in the cafeteria and then move to the nearby gym where music students will be performing throughout the day.” While dinner service ends at 4:30, music performances continue until 5:30pm.

The performance schedule includes:

12:30 — NHUF Vocal Ensemble
12:45 — BES Vocal Ensemble
1:00 — Elementary Sr. Orchestra
1:15 — GES Vocal Ensemble
1:30 — Elementary Sr. Band
1:45 — WES Bearly in Tune
2:00 — BASH Show Choir
2:25 — BASH Jazz Ensemble
2:50 — BASH Orchestra
3:15 — BASH Big Band
3:40 — East/West Orchestra
4:00 — West Jazz Ensemble
4:20 — Middle School Choirs
4:40 — East Jazz Ensemble
5:00 — West Concert Band

Although students pay activity fees to participate in extra-curricular music activities, the school district does not fully fund these music programs. Music League fundraising helps to provide some necessities as well as beneficial "extras" for students. Puleo shares that Music League contributions have helped replace worn out marching unit and choir uniforms and help pay for charter buses for trips. "Recently we purchased a classroom set of ukuleles for an elementary school music classroom and we also purchased a set of African drums. We have paid professional musicians of various types to come into the schools to work with students," says Puleo, providing additional examples of how the Music League contributes.

In addition to the fundraising purpose of the annual chicken dinner, Puleo believes the event serves other valuable purposes: "People from the community come in and see the skill and efforts these students put into their performances, and hopefully they see the importance and value of these programs. The students and their teachers put countless hours in to create beauty and entertainment for others. I also like that the younger children get to see the older students perform and it help them envision what they can accomplish."

Whether they are entertaining you in musical shows like Grease or marching onto the field at football games, you can help continue the joy these students and programs bring to the community. So be a winner! Order your chicken dinner!