CHILDREN HELPING CHILDREN.
The Catholic Education Foundation of Ottawa his holding seven benefit performances of Cinderella at St. Paul High School. Proceeds will go to CEFO’s Helping to Alleviate Poverty in Our Schools program.
Photo by Alan Dean Photography
According to Lisa Hopkins, the Cinderella musical happening at St. Paul High School is not just a classic tale, it’s a shining example of children helping children.
“The story and theme has always been a great crowd pleaser,” said Hopkins. “To date, the children who performed in it and volunteers have raised $275,000. It’s children raising money for children.”
Hopkins, the show’s executive producer, is also the executive director of the Catholic Education Foundation of Ottawa. The foundation is taking money raised from the seventh annual show and putting it towards the Helping to Alleviate Poverty in Our Schools program.
Along with several hundred volunteers, Hopkins has worked on musicals for the past seven years. For this year’s Cinderella musical, she said the foundation got to work on it back in June.
“We were arranging for musical rights, and auditions,” Hopkins said. “A core group of people were very busy and as of early January, a large number of volunteers were brought in to build sets.”
This year, she said 500 students from 24 schools will participate in the musical event, including two elementary choirs each night and a cast of 35 students.
At $18 a ticket for adults, $15 for students, and $12 for children and seniors, Hopkins said she hopes to raise $45,000 from this year’s show.
“Ticket sales have been very good, and we may sell many of our tickets at the door,” she said. “It’s hard to predict.”
Hopkins said the foundation’s Alleviate Poverty in Our Schools program has a few components to it, one being an emergency response fund.
“It turns around money for families in need in a 24-hour period,” she said, adding there’s money also set aside for to send children to camp and for special projects for students to take part in where there isn’t any government funding.
The foundation has been in existence since 1999 and Hopkins said she was asked to be the executive director,
“I willingly did so because the demand for funds to assist those in poverty is so high,” she said. “A child has to learn, and they have to have some securities and basic needs met in times of crises.”
While the Cinderella musical is for a good cause, Hopkins said the production will also be entertaining for audiences.
There is still time to see some shows at St. Paul High School on Draper Avenue. On Feb. 23 and 24, audiences can see the show at 7:30 p.m. and a matinee performance will be offered on Feb. 25 at 2 p.m.