Two young Nepali natives who volunteered to help clean up Whitehall on Saturday received an unexpected gift from local officials: a trip to see their first musical at Baldwin High School.
Nearly 30 refugee youth and adults living in Whitehall Place attended the borough's annual clean-up event on Saturday. For the last few years, Whitehall Mayor James Nowalk, who organizes the annual clean-up, has worked with South Hills Interfaith Ministries to involve refugees from Nepal and Burma in the effort.
“It's just been great for them, it's been great for us,” Nowalk said. “They do it because they want to be part of the community.”
Two volunteers got to see “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
Each year, residents and businesses in the area donate between $100 and $250 respectively to the Baldwin-Whitehall Friends of the Theater Arts, a nonprofit that raises money for the arts in Baldwin-Whitehall, to become a “theater mogul,” Nowalk said. With that recognition, the person or business receives two tickets to Baldwin High School's musical along with a reserved parking space at the school.
This year, state Sen. Matt Smith (D-Mt. Lebanon) asked Nowalk, president of the theater arts group, to donate his musical tickets to a Whitehall resident.
Nowalk said he wanted to raffle the tickets off to a person that helped give back to the community on clean-up day. Two girls in particular, ages 9 and 16, “really wanted to go,” Nowalk said.
“They really enjoyed it,” said Susie Backscheider, youth mentoring coordinator with SHIM, who escorted the girls to the show and served as their chaperone.
Stephanie Hacke is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-388-5818 or shacke@tribweb.com.
