Oklahoma band
seeks funds for
trip to Hawaii

The students would perform at
a ceremony commemorating
the attack on Pearl Harbor

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Staff and wire reports

Members of an Oklahoma high school marching band have a chance at a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Hawaii.

What they don't have yet is the money to pull it off.

The 140-member Tahlequah High School marching band is one of 12 selected from throughout the United States to perform in a planned Waikiki parade commemorating the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Each band will represent one of the ships bombed on Dec. 7, 1941. The battleship USS Oklahoma was among those attacked.

Band members have met with Pearl Harbor survivors in Oklahoma and done research to ensure their uniforms, flags and costumes appear authentic for that era.

The cost is $1,500 for each student to make the Nov. 21-28 trip, and band director Harvey Price wants to raise a total of $280,000. The deadline is looming for them to pay half their expenses to secure accommodations and air fare.

"We're coming from a small town; it's tough for this many people to raise this amount of money from a small town," Price said.

Band members have raised money by helping set up company picnics and selling items like chocolate and sausage. Corporate sponsors have been tapped, and the band applied for a $60,000 grant.

"We are fund-raising fools," said Terri Grissom, a band parent and fund-raising coordinator.

But so far, the band has raised just $100,000 -- about one-third of what is needed.

"This is it," Grissom said. "We're really grasping at straws now. We're trying to make sure all the kids get to go. Tell us where to be and we'll work or do something to help us get the money raised."

Of the band members, 53 percent are American Indian and 63 percent come from low-income families, Grissom said. Family support will be minimal, at least financially. Price said 20 students are having problems raising money, and he'll have to decide by Friday whether they will go on the trip.

"I hope we can come up with something; I hate to leave anyone at home," he said.

The band has already made a $60,000 deposit, and $100,000 more is due by Friday.

It will be "really tough to raise," Price said, but "we're definitely going to be in Hawaii on those dates. We paid so much money that we can't afford to back out of it."

Some members, Grissom said, never had been to a mall until they went to a food court during a recent band competition.

"Can you imagine what it'll be like for the majority of the kids to get on an airplane and fly to Hawaii?" she said. "That's something they probably never thought was possible or their parents never thought was possible."

To contribute to the effort, send donations to: Tahlequah High School Band, c/o Harvey Price, 625 Jones Ave., Tahlequah, OK 74464.