Posted by Sudbury Northern Life
Young musical prodigies Dengrou rallied fellow students, parents, teachers and community members together April 8 for a benefit performance at Ecole Saint-Denis for the Northeast Ontario Regional Cancer Centre.
This is the second year in a row that Dengrou, a group of Ecole
Saint-Denis music students, have played for to raise money for
the cancer research.
"They love the cause," said Alain Mallette, the band's music teacher. "Cancer research is very important to the community. We're not the only school that does it but we feel what we do really helps."
Ecole Saint-Denis has spent the last six years hosting fundraisers to raise money for cancer research.
"This school has raised over $10,000 for the Cancer Research Centre and the Pediatric Oncology Centre in memory of Riley Gallo, one of our former students that passed away from cancer in 2003," said Paul Henry, principal at Ecole Saint-Denis.
The event, which featured a performance from Dengrou, a comedy act by Saint-Denis Grade 7 and 8 students and a magic show, brought over 200 guests, filling the gymnasium to capacity.
"It was a very energetic crowd. The students were asking questions and looking for interaction from the crowd and they got it," said Mallette.
With the donations made at the concert, the school is hoping to push their grand total of contributions to the Northeastern Ontario Regional Cancer Centre past the $15,000 mark.
"We invite the media at the end of April or sometime in May we will be doing a presentation to the Cancer Research Foundation, at that time we're hoping to be close to the $4,000 level to top us off," said Henry.
