Be instrumental in helping Roberta go to Rome with the band

Hi! My name is Tricia Verhaalen, along with

Janette Below and Rocky Emrich we’d like to see if we can help raise funds for a beloved friend in our Sussex community …. Roberta Pratt!!!!

You all might know her and if you don’t,

you should know that she is an integral part of our community. At Hamilton High School she volunteers her time and talent as a photographer

She is gifted, selfless and wonderful!!!!

She recently posted the words below…

so we’d love see if our community could help raise the cost for her to travel to Europe in 2025 with the HS BAND before she retires.

Info… ROME, ITALY 12/27/24 to 1/3/2025

Airfare, hotel, ground transportation and numerous tours along with most meals at an estimated cost of $3600

Roberta’s words …

So here is my announcement. It's regarding my volunteering services as the HHS sports photographer.

I have been volunteering for 16 years now and have loved every minute. I will be 62 in October, and I'm a grandma and loving every single minute!! So I have been busy with family and that is number one.

So this coming up basketball season will be 17 years. Basketball is where this all started from when my oldest son Steven played for Coach Cerroni.

So what I want to see is that I will be taking pictures until my 20th year of volunteering. In which this means three more years starting this basketball season. And then I will retire. Except I might still take pictures on the football field because that is one of my favorite sports. If anyone at that time wants to hire me out, then maybe I will do so. 20 years does have a really nice ring to it.

I hope you all can understand where I'm coming from. I think I have 20 years of volunteering, my time, my travel time and all the editing, and just being at the sporting event a lot of volunteering. That also includes the different weather climates that I attend.

So when I edit I get up anywhere between 3:00 to 3:30 a.m. to start editing before I leave work at 5:40 a.m.. then I try to come home and edit more, or else I'm running out the door to the next sporting event. So, my life really revolves around the students and volunteering. I actually do not have a lot of time for myself. So, with these next three years coming, it might change a little bit. I might not be able to get to a lot of the games because, like I said before, family comes first. I know you all understand that part.

"It's all about the kids."

So that's the end of my announcement.