A new event brings the community together in support of the choir.
The school’s annual Lenten Supper & Stations of the Cross pantomime was a time of reverence and remembrance. On Friday, March 7, the community came together with the help and in support of choir students.
Mrs. Danielle Baalman, who has six children enrolled at Donahue, spearheaded the event, which she introduced to the school last academic year. “When talking with Mr. O’Neill about the choir competition trip to Orlando, we needed to rent a bus and driver. With the added cost, there was need for fundraising,” she said of the event’s beginnings. “I then mentioned to a friend that it would be great to have a school-wide meatless dinner on a Friday during Lent. She told me that in her previous community they did something similar and people enjoyed it.” Mrs. Baalman presented the idea of a meatless dinner fundraiser to Mr. O’Neill. They added to it a choir performance of the Stations of the Cross at the beginning of the evening and a short pantomime of the Last Supper, a tradition she had learned in her youth ministry days, as its other bookend.
Last year, Mrs. Baalman and Mr. O’Neill had only five days to pull everything together and get the word out. To execute the plan, each choir member was asked to bring a meatless dinner option to the evening. Choir students set up, sang the Stations, served, and cleaned up. To their surprise, the event was a huge success!
“The people who attended were very touched by the beautiful rendition of the Stations and enjoyed the evening full of various soup options,” said Mrs. Baalman. The event ended with the Last Supper pantomime, as planned, and people were asked to leave in silence. The warm reception convinced the duo to repeat it.
The support for the choir group has been transformative. Students have been able to pursue competition and experience the joy of doing what they love at a higher level. Mrs. Baalman said she was inspired to help because of her love of music and desire to support Mr. O’Neill and the choir program.
“Mr. O’Neil is such a gift to our school. We have only been at Donahue for four years, and to see how far his music program has come has been amazing. The choir is going to competition for the second year in a row! Mr. O’Neil has such a talent in directing the program; it has opened up some of the kids to develop a passion that they may have never had without him,” she concluded. Best of all, the whole community has benefitted from a new Lenten tradition.
