The Hazelwood Central Middle School band will support the Salvation Army’s Tree of Lights campaign by performing with bellringers as they collect donations. This is the fourth consecutive year the band has performed in conjunction with the fundraising campaign.
Eighteen students, led by Tom Schwartz, band director, will perform on December 12 and December 14 from 2:15 to 4:00 p.m. at Dierbergs, located at 222 N. Highway 67 in Florissant.
Schwartz said the students who are chosen to participate are “always excited” because the performances have “become a tradition and honor.”
“The students always get a kick out of seeing people drop money in the kettle and give them a big thank you,” he said.
“The Salvation Army bellringers are always excited to see us because most of the time they are cold and alone during their volunteer shifts and we change things up. They let us know that they get a lot more business when we play,” said Schwartz.
Helping with the Salvation Army campaign is significant in that the students “get a chance to showcase their talents to the community in a setting outside of school for people who normally wouldn’t get a chance to hear them. Most importantly, they are learning a great lesson – that they don’t need a lot to be able to make a positive impact on the community, just hard work, creativity and their gifts as talented musicians,” said Schwartz.
He hopes that students who are participating for the first time learn that “anyone can help, and that you don’t have to be an adult or have a ton of money to make a difference in the world. I hope it also encourages them to practice and improve themselves as musicians.”
When asked about comments from shoppers or bellringers as the students play, Schwartz said, “We always get comments from community members about how great it is to see the kids doing something like this, or that they wished they could have done something similar when they were students and in band.”