No Eagle Left Behind--Movement, Music Minutes Raise Money For Staff In Need
Updated: Sep 22, 2021
By Emma Duncan--Eagle Assistant Editor
It's Monday morning. Students are dawdling to their respective classes and on the way they read signs such as "We're All In This Together". This phrase seems generic, but for Teacher and Coach Matt Foutz and History Teacher Ross Zabloski, those five words mean everything.
This year, both of these staffulty members were diagnosed with cancer, with Foutz battling bone cancer and Zabloski confronting Lymphoma.
After hearing this news, Varsity Cheer Head Coach and Teacher Marsha Lopez and Theatre Director and English Teacher Mary Hannah Wheeler stepped up to create two fundraisers: Movement Minute for Foutz and Music Minute for Zabloski.
“With Ross being such an amazing addition to the theatre department I felt the need to do something special for him and to support him. We knew we wanted to do something musical or performance-wise and we finally decided on a talent show! We used the ‘Movement Minute‘ title that we had for Coach Foutz and changed it to ‘Music Minute‘," Wheeler explained.
As Wheeler hinted toward above, Movement Minute came first, taking place on Friday, April 30, and lasting until 6 p.m. after school.
“Movement Minute was extremely important to me as it was a fundraiser to help out one of my fellow faculty and department members who is battling a serious disease,” Jamie Wright, physical education teacher and coach, shared. “I wanted to do everything I could to help him out in any way possible! I chose to participate not only to help Matt, but also for the benefit of physical activity for a lifetime!”
He was joined by Lopez and only five Eagle students.
“I will say I was let down by student turnout for the event, but not for the fundraiser,“ Wright recalled. “There was a lot of money donated to help him out, but I would have liked more students to show up and represent for Foutz.“
Roughly three weeks later, on Monday, May 24, there was slightly more student turnout for Music Minute.
“I was thrilled with the student turnout,” Wheeler said. “I cannot thank everyone enough for attending!”
An entrance fee of $5 was required to enter the football field, but donations were also being accepted. Water bottles were sold for $1 each and t-shirts could also be purchased.
“The t-shirt deadline was [May 7] sadly; however, if we have a large number of individuals who want to buy more we may be able to make another order,“ Wheeler added.
All in all, both events did their job by raising a significant amount of money for these fellow Eagles.
“Both events were very successful! We raised over $1,300 for each one,“ Lopez tallied.
Foutz and Zabloski seemed more than grateful for these unexpected acts.
“I am someone who struggles in asking for help, so I have grown a lot in this whole experience in letting people bless my wife and I during this time,” Zabloski commented. “Thank you all so much for your kindness and generosity. I am so grateful for everyone who has donated and put together this event. I am so blessed to live in a town that cares about others in extravagant ways. My wife and I are excited to pay it forward in this county for years to come!”