Notes From The Road…
is a Holiday Express feature, similar to a blog, written by Tim McLoone during the bus rides home from our events! We hope you enjoy reading about how Holiday Express fulfills our
mission – no matter what – from Tim's personal and candid observations.
Monday, November 25
Passaic County Elks Cerebral Palsy High School
It seems as though Season #19 really snuck up on us this year. It's not even December yet, and today's event at CP High School in Clifton was already our 8th of the year and, we think, #737 overall. That’s a lot of “Candles burnin’ low”!
We’ve been to this one a number of years now but it is always so heartwarming. We play in a modest sized rec room/cafeteria with very low ceilings which makes the band sound even louder than usual, particularly with today’s configuration that included 4 horns, 2 keyboards, guitar, bass, drums, and about 8 singers. That’s a big band! This room was filled, of course, with about 100 or so students along with their teachers, caregivers, other school employees, relatives, our volunteers and sponsors. It is always a raucous event, but you can really feel the love in the air. I’m not kidding!
It seems we can’t play loudly enough to keep these teens rockin’. Almost all of the students are in wheelchairs or need assistance in walking. A few are ambulatory and got right up dancing. They also returned later as our VERY popular “Disco Santa.”
TD Bank was our event sponsor. Ray introduced them to an appreciative audience who were delighted with the i-Pads that were donated as their part of the “Giving Partner” program. It’s amazing all of the tentacles that Holiday Express has going now, but today we were just reminded of the difficult lives that so many among us lead. And what a good time we all had. The “Ladies Dancing” were a big hit as we had a very enthusiastic “12 Days.”
We’ve been playing here long enough now that we have seen many students graduate but, sadly, there is always another ready to fill that chair.