Help us spread the word about the Peter Gelinas Memorial scholarship!

We have more and more people involved in our mission to create a scholarship in memory of Peter Gelinas, who died in the 9/11 attack on the World Trade center. However, we still need more help to make it to the goal of $25,000 necessary to create an endowment that would provide a yearly award to an incoming freshman.

Please consider spreading the word through face book by "liking" our scholarship cause page:

https://www.facebook.com/GelinasScholarship?ref=stream

We would also love to hear your thoughts on the page: please take a moment to send us your memories, opinions, wishes, and encouragement with a short post.

And we still need donations! Any amount will get us that much closer to goal.

Please share this message with friends, and the website to donate is:

www.xavierhighschool.org/give

Thanks you so much for your support and hope everyone is staying warm: especially those under 3 feet of snow in New England!

Help Fisher House for Free!

Here is a way you can help Fisher House for Free:

Vote for Fisher House to win 10 million flight miles from United:

http://10millioncharitymiles.com/charity/17?utm_source=Hero+Miles+-+10+MIllion+Charity+Miles&utm_campaign=Hero+Miles+Charity+Miles+Campaign&utm_medium=email

or if you want a shortened link:

http://bit.ly/UC90op

Just click on the link, and then on "Vote For Hero Miles"

How does Fisher House use frequent flyer miles? When an injured troop is at a military hospital, they use the miles to fly his or her family to visit them. For example, if a soldier is wounded in Afghanistan, after being stabilized, he would be flown to the military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany. If his wife cannot afford a plane ticket to Germany, she will not be able to see him until he is safe enought to be flown back the the United States. Fisher House uses the frequent flyer miles to give that family a chance to be together as the soldier is treated for his wounds.

Here are more details on the Fisher House Hero Miles site:

http://www.fisherhouse.org/programs/hero-miles/

You can vote every day until December 25th.

Please consider helping and share this link with friends.

Launching a fundraiser for the Peter Gelinas Memorial Scholarship

Fundraiser: Peter Gelinas Memorial Scholarship

Organized by the Xavier High School Class of 1986

 

 

The Xavier High School community and Madison, CT suffered a painful and shocking loss in the death of Peter Gelinas during the attacks of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on 9/11.  Peter’s death was both sudden and senseless.   In the wake of 9/11, Peter, like many who perished, left behind a loving spouse, and two young sons. Peter represented all the best characteristics in a young man.  He was an enthusiastic, proactive, and positive member of his community. He always included others in the fun, and he stuck up for the most vulnerable members of our community who needed help. We remember him from our shared time at Xavier High School as a friend and teammate, an exemplary scholar-athlete who shined as the captain of the football team. Peter went on to higher education at Villanova and success in the Manhattan firm Cantor & Fitzgerald.

Since 2001, many of us have participated in remembrance ceremonies for Peter and other victims of the 9/11 attacks. There is a bench dedicated to him along the shoreline at the Surf Club, and a memorial plaque with his yearbook picture outside the doors of the Xavier Chapel.  In any city with a 9/11 memorial you can touch the letters of his name where he is listed with so many others and remember the man who is no longer with us.

While we all remember Peter in our own private way, especially when a new anniversary of 9/11 comes and goes, we classmates of his have set out to honor his memory in an living and breathing manner.  We are establishing a memorial scholarship at Xavier High School in Peter's honor. Creating a recurring gift of a partial scholarship requires a minimum endowment of $25,000. The more we raise the more support we can provide to a deserving incoming freshman every year.   After a short campaign, we are happy to report that we have already received pledges in excess of $10,000 from a core cadre of alumni and Peter’s teachers who remain at Xavier.

Our deadline to make the Peter Gelinas Memorial Scholarship a reality for the next incoming class is June 30, 2013. Peter is an important facet of the Xavier community and he has even deeper roots in his hometown Madison where many friends remember him with fondness. As the calendar year of 2012 comes to a close, please consider making a contribution to this worthy effort.  Your contribution is tax-deductible as well so please take that into consideration prior January 1^st.

With your financial support of any amount within family budget, this idea, started by a few of Peter’s friends will become a recurring scholarship for students who need not only financial assistance, but also nurturing of the characteristics that personified Peter. If you have any questions about the scholarship, please contact me, Chris Coppola, or Matt Strekel ’99, Director of Advancement at Xavier High School at (860) 347-6079 or mstrekel@xavierhighschool.org .

 

 

Warmest regards to you and your families during this Holiday season!

 

Chris

 

Christopher Coppola

237 Sunbury Rd. Danville, PA 17821

cpcoppola@geisinger.edu

(570)380-3686

 

Online giving via: www.xavierhighschool.org/give

 

Donations by check to: “Xavier High School” with “Peter Gelinas Scholarship” on memo line

and mailed to:

 

Peter Gelinas Scholarship,   c/o

Matthew Strekel, Director of Advancement Xavier High School

181 Randolph Road

Middletown, CT 06457