Community comes together after East Allegheny School District concession stand fire
From the ashes of tragedy rose an opportunity for the East Allegheny School District community to come together and overcome adversity.
On the morning of Oct. 5, a fire broke out in the concessions stand at Churchman Stadium in North Versailles, causing thousands of dollars in damage and destroyed equipment. East Allegheny Superintendent Joseph DiLucente said the coordination of efforts to rebuild started as he learned the fire was taking place.
"The response was great," DiLucente said. "You realize there are a lot of people in the community that are invested in their school district and want to help."
Within 24 hours, numerous groups and individuals reached out to help. DiLucente said the response was overwhelming, in a positive way.
"The Woodland Hills School District — which is a neighboring school district — they reached out, offering their support in any way," he said. "And the United Volunteer Fire Department — which is within the district that represents the communities of East McKeesport and Wall — they are going to host a bingo event this Sunday with all proceeds generously being donated to the district."
Parents and students from the organizations that benefit from the concessions stand, like the marching band and youth football, also came together to help with the cleanup and rebuilding efforts. They plan to reopen the concessions stand for the Wildcats' football game against Valley Friday night, and also a marching band event this weekend.
"They are very happy and thankful that the grassroots support for their organizations has sustained through this unexpected occurrence, and they are willing to work together with us to ensure that our upcoming events go off without a hitch, and that we build back strong for the East Allegheny School District," DiLucente said.
To keep the community informed, the school district has launched a dedicated landing page on their website — eawildcats.net — where they will continue to post updates as recovery plans develop.
"We're telling them that we're here for them," DiLucente said. "We're telling them that our mission is to support people, and that while we are aware that this is a difficult event to manage and to deal with, that these coordination efforts show the strength of our community."
