Gateway High School to host multicultural festival, half of proceeds going to Tree of Life

Gateway High School will reintroduce a school tradition to the community this weekend by hosting its multicultural festival and donating half of its proceeds to the Pittsburgh synagogue where 11 people were killed last month.

The event will be from 3:30 to around 6 p.m. Nov. 17 at Gateway High School Auditorium.

There will be performances, a fashion show and dishes from various cultures to try. Admission is $5 and half the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Tree of Life Congregation in Squirrel Hill.

“We have a diverse religious community,” said Shawn Whelan, a world religious teacher at Gateway High School. “My students agreed to do what we can to help after tragedy hit.”

Eleven people died and six were injured Oct. 27 when a gunman opened fire at the synagogue during worship. Since the shooting, more than $1 million has been raised for the victims’ families and the synagogue.

Whelan said the performances will include Indian and German traditional dances, musical performances and reading from a Hindu text. The fashion show will feature traditional dress from Pakistan, India and Morocco.

Whelan said he started organizing the multicultural festival in 2015 after its previous organizer, Leigh-Anne Weiss, did it for over 20 years. He did not organize a festival in 2017 because of a lack of student participation, he said. He said his students usually pick a cause to donate its proceeds to.

“We’re not doing any sort of raffle … so it won’t be a ton of cash, but it’ll be something,” Whelan said.

Dillon Carr is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Dillon at 412-871-2325, dcarr@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dillonswriting.