CONTACT:  Wendy V. Long, Public Relations

                        (413) 685-1003

Volunteers attend 3rd annual appreciation dinner

Huntington – Approximately 170 people attended the Third Annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner at the Gateway café on Friday, February 9th.  The evening featured a lasagna dinner, musical entertainment by Middle School teacher John Zmud on piano, childcare provided by the National Honor Society, and a raffle of gif baskets that were donated by the staff of all seven Gateway schools.

National Honor Society members Kathleen Ryan, Marshall Prokop and Jed Cummings provided child care, with assistance from high school students Emma Long, Jessica Hopson and Betsy Rock.

Each volunteer received a certificate for an evening of free dance lessons (donated by Northampton Wednesday Dance for swing, salsa, lindy, hop or ballroom dance lesson), an “I love Gateway pencil”, Proud Gateway Volunteer 2007 button, a beautiful bookmark designed by Sue Levreault, and a raffle ticket for a chance to win one of seven beautiful gift baskets, which were assembled by the staff of each district school.

The theme for this year’s dinner was, “It takes 7 villages to educate our children.” The café was decorated with hundreds of houses and buildings hand-painted by Gateway elementary students to reflect important places in their towns.  Stanton Hall, the Chester Train Station, the Huntington Country Store, fire stations, town halls, farms and more were represented in the children’s work. The villages were painted and assembled under the direction of elementary art teacher Susan Henson.

Centerpieces created by elementary art students, using wood donated by Countryside Woodcraft and cut by teacher Peter DelMasto.

Middle School students also created artwork depicting the Gateway hilltowns, which was displayed on the walls of the cafeteria.

Over 20 staff members and students volunteered the day of the event. Tables were set by Susan Luppino, Julie Belliveau, Beth Guertin, Karen Chaffee, Laura Fisk, Cathy Negri, Paul Sawyer, Lynn Gebo, Darlene Grady, and Jack Scanlan.  Student Austin Levreault was on hand all afternoon and evening, running errands and helping wherever he was needed.  Friends of Gateway members Deb Carnes, Sue Levreault and John Noble were also on hand throughout the event. Joanne Paiva, Nancy Challet and Michelle Anderson pulled sous chef detail, under the supervision of Food Services Director Wendy McCaul.  Janice Doppler, Todd Gazda, Judy Hallock and Wendy Long served as greeters.  Dinner servers for the evening were Joanne Blocker, Laurie Marvel, Tom Nadolny, Peter Curro, Paul Facteau and David Hopson.  Tom Burkhard, Irene McCusker and Chris Bresnahan returned for the end of the evening clean up.

MS Principal Peter Curro and Superintendent David Hopson serve up meals at the 3rd Annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner

The lasagna dinner included salad, dinner rolls, and brownie alamode.  The event was free of charge to all district volunteers and their families.  The Friends of Gateway organized the event.