Lounsberry Hollow honors volunteers

VERNON — Recently, volunteers at Lounsberry Hollow Middle School located were honored with an appreciation brunch held in the school library.

Continuing the tradition of a themed brunch, this year’s guests traveled over the rainbow to a “Wizard of Oz with a TWISTer” extravaganza complete with Keri Frawley as Dorothy caught up in the tornado, Principal Charles McKay as the Tin Man, and Barbara Monschauer as Dorothy’s house which has just crushed the Wicked Witch of the East!

Guests were entertained by a student orchestral group, the Lounsberry Hollow Jazz Band, and the school’s sixth grade choir, all talented groups who delighted the assembled volunteers. Guests were given thank you cards created by many of the school’s grateful students and a certificate honoring their work in the school.

Also included in the morning’s festivities was a Wizard of Oz trivia game, and an array of food including quiche, salads, and other delicious entrees, rainbows of fruit and fresh vegetables, and a dessert table with treats such as chocolate melted witches, confectionary Glinda’s wands, and “Ding Dong the witch is dead” snack cakes all donated by grateful staff members.

The event was organized by a committee from the school and donations came from the faculty and staff. As a final tribute to honor the volunteers, a monetary donation was made to Harvest House, a local community food program.

“I really enjoyed planning and prepping to honor our volunteers at the Volunteer Brunch," said Frawley, one of the committee chairwomen said. "It means a lot to the teachers to have parent involvement for various occasions. The bridge between home and school is very important for the success of every student and with the parents help we can make this happen.”

“The Lounsberry Hollow Middle School SCA cannot thank the teachers and staff at Lounsberry enough for giving us a magical luncheon," Dawn DeMattheis said. "Walking down the "Yellow Brick Road" while listening to the orchestra perform was breathtaking. Seeing the house, tornado, and Tin Man walk by was fascinating. The food was superb while the lion, Toto, and red shoe table decorations were extremely creative. Getting a chance to hear the Jazz Band play and the choir sing for the first time was phenomenal. The entire Lounsberry family made us feel very much appreciated by all the time and effort you spent on us. Even the details in the desserts like the "Ding Dong" cakes — the Wicked Witch is Dead — to "Over the Rainbow" cookies were simply magnificent.

"Winston Churchill once said 'Never have so few, given so much, for so many' when he was referring to the British people and their WWII war effort," McKay said. "I feel that way about our volunteers. They give so much, for so many students and it is truly inspiring to see our students giving back to them in the form of the brunch facilitated by Mrs. Monschauer and Mrs. Frawley."