Editor:

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a Pink Encore Performance of Disney’s Musical “Aladdin” was presented on Oct. 27 by Excelsior Middle School, Epic Care Cancer Centers, and The Volunteer Parents of the Arts Club. The show was directed by Kathy Tickner and Dana Lee.

Donations accepted at the door and during the silent auction raised $3,100 for Kaleidoscope, a local nonprofit volunteer organization in Byron that connects with, and offers support to, those living with cancer. During two short intermissions, radiologist Dr. Gothum Prassad and surgeon Dr. Bill Hamstra, cancer specialists, spoke about medical advancements in diagnosis, and improvements in treatments for cancer.

Kaleidoscope was started in 2003 and was the inspiration of Jan Page, who taught in the Byron school district for eight years before being diagnosed with ovarian and breast cancer. Ms. Page was also mentor to Ms. Tickner as she began her teaching career, and thanks Kathy for teaching her students the value of giving back to their community.

She also congratulated the Parent Volunteers of the Arts Club for believing and modeling how their commitment and passion to provide support for the Drama, Music and Art Programs of the Byron School District can benefit the lives of our children and our community.

The students performed with great exuberance and delighted the audience with their joy in contributing to breast cancer awareness. Kathy also would like to send out a heartfelt thank you to the other “Aladdin” staff: Jeanne Turner, Monica Rollins, Dana Lee, Mario Luci, Sheri Guel, Laurel Sarmento and to all the parent volunteers and high school student volunteers, who, collectively, put in hundreds of hours in the creation of the “Aladdin” production, and to our business sponsors for their financial support of Excelsior’s art and Drama programs.

Thank you to Supervisor Mary Piepho for her very generous announcement about the Pink Encore Production and assisting these two East County organizations in their efforts to advocate for both children in the arts, and families living with cancer.

Lastly, thank you to Superintendent Ken Jacopetti, and trustees Elaine Landro, Jeff Sugimoto and Jill Sprenkel for attending the production and showing support, and Principal Charles Miller and Vice Principal Kelly Basnagnian for their continued support of VPAC’s mission to teach our students about compassion, connection and giving back to those in need via the visual and performing arts.

For additional information about these federally registered nonprofit organizations, please contact Kaleidoscope at www.kaleidoscopehope.org; and The Volunteer Parents of the Arts Club at sk8tickner@comcast.net.

Kate Riley, Byron