Cleveland HS Bands PLAY-A-THON 2022
Tax deductible
Welcome to the 2022 Fall Cleveland Bands Play-a-thon! This is our annual fundraiser to support the award-winning Cleveland Band program. You are invited to see our groups perform live in the Cleveland HS auditorium. In addition, we will be streaming performances live on our YouTube channel. (Visit our Cleveland Bands Website to find the YouTube link on Friday, October 7th!)
***Thank you in advance for supporting our band students! When you make your donation, please add the name of the student you are supporting in the comments***
Our Play-a-thon will be taking place on Friday, October 7th from 4pm - 9:45pm to raise money for the band program. This event is necessary to offset costs for many basic needs of running a program that we list below. Recently, our district has begun to support our program for PIL (local league) events, State Championship events, and our local Rose Festival parades. Every year, we are experiencing more support from the district, and the central office continues to commit to building this support in the implementation of the PPS Master Arts Education Plan. However, there are still many costs in running a strong program that needs to be addressed in our current school year. This fundraiser helps offset these costs while additionally providing financial support for our students which are outlined below. The Play-a-thon is also a great way to build the band community.
Your donations support these basic needs of running a high school band program, including:
- Purchasing sheet music: it costs nearly $100 for one set of sheet music for a single title, $350 for a set of advanced music
- Entrance fees for competitions (outside of PIL events)
- Travel costs (buses & subs for events outside of PIL)
- Pep band t-shirts and hats for incoming freshman
Our program is also able to provide added support for our students to be sure that financial stresses do not disrupt a student’s ability to excel:
- Section Coaches
- Visiting Clinicians
- Student Registration Fees for All-State & Western International Band Clinic
- Student assistance funds for summer camps, spring trips, concert attire, accompanists, etc.
In the past, this money has also been used to assist in major purchases:
- New uniforms for the marching band
- New Drumline equipment
- Upgrading and adding instruments (tubas, flugelhorns, marching baritones, special concert percussion)
The typical band fee for a high school band is AT LEAST $100, usually much more. CHS Band Director Mr. Gary Riler and our parent booster group, Friends of Cleveland Bands, feel strongly that we should not charge a mandatory fee to participate in band. Instead we ask our community to support the program. We do not want to limit any students’ ability to participate due to financial hardship!
The Cleveland High School Band Program has a long tradition of being a quality award-winning Band Program. Some recent accolades include:
- (2020) Cleveland HS was honored by the National Federation of High Schools as the Performing Arts School of Excellence
- (2020) Cleveland HS Wind Ensemble was invited to perform a Concert Hour at the Oregon Music Educators Association Conference in Eugene, Oregon.
- (2022) All-State: Via an audition process 2 students were in the All-State Jazz Ensemble, 1 student was in the All-State Symphony Orchestra, 5 students were in the All-State Wind Ensemble and 5 students were in the All-State Symphonic Band.
- (2022) State Chamber Music Contest: 1st Place - Percussion Duet; 2nd Place - Saxophone Quartet; 3rd Place - Brass Quintet; 4th Place - Percussion Duet; and 5th Place - Woodwind Quintet
- (2022) Most recently, the Cleveland HS Wind Ensemble placed 5th at the 2022 OSAA State Band Championships. This was a historic occasion, as no Portland Public School band program has placed in the top 5 at these championships since their inception in 1984.
HOW CAN I SUPPORT THE CLEVELAND BAND PROGRAM?
1. Donate an amount meaningful to you. Any amount helps! We accept employer matches through Benevity (just search for Friends of Cleveland Bands). We also accept employer matches manually, just have your employer send their match to the address below. Our EIN is 842037819.
2. If you are supporting a particular student PLEASE BE SURE TO PUT THE NAME OF THE STUDENT YOU SUPPORT IN THE COMMENT BOX! There are prizes that go to the student for the most money raised, largest number of gifts, and for participating. This also gets the students engaged and participating in their own fundraising success.
3. JOIN US on October 7th! You can attend the concert live at the Cleveland HS Auditorium (the address is below) or you can join us online. Come back to this page or go to our website to get the link to the stream.
4. Sign up for the Friends of Cleveland Bands Newsletter to stay up to date with the band!
You may also donate by check to:
Friends of Cleveland Bands
Attn: Friends of Cleveland Bands
Cleveland High School
3400 SE 26th Ave
Portland OR 97202
Check donations will receive a letter from FOCB acknowledging the donation and serve as your tax receipt.
Organizer
Heather Randol
Organizer
Portland, OR
Friends of Cleveland High School Bands
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.