City OK's $5,000 for Maloney Band Uniforms

Meriden's City Councilors voted unanimously to allocate $5,000 to the to buy new uniforms at their Monday night meeting.

"Maloney is the only competing band in the city," City Councilor Hilda Santiago (D) said before the vote, explaining some of her reasoning for approving the funds. Though Platt High School also has a marching band, it does not compete in regional and national events like Maloney's does. "They’re the city's ambassadors and they represent the city at many events."

Maloney's music boosters launched a campaign on Oct 5 to raise $65,000 by Jan. 1, 2012 in order to replace its uniforms for the 2012-2013 school year.

According to the boosters, the current uniforms are 15 years old and have been mended, hemmed and re-hemmed countless times and are coming apart at the seams. “after years of raising hems and repairing popped buttons,” band parents recognize that they can’t do it anymore, said Maloney Band Booster President Barbara Fraser at the campaign's kick-off event.

Because of this, the boosters are asking for donations from the public and are applying for grants to buy new uniforms, which run between $400-$450 each. They have already received a grant of $10,000 to put toward the total.

Some councilors voted "yes" only after being assured that there would be a matching donation from the Board of Education.

"I hope the board can put in a little more than we do," said Walter Shamock (W). "I watched a band competition at Falcon Field – it was unbelievable."

City Councilor Keith Gordon said he had spoken to Schools Superintendent Mark Benigni, and that the Board of Education still needed to vote on its donation amount. Gordon also said he checked city records to see when the last donation was made to Platt for uniforms. According to him, the city gave $11,000 three years ago for Platt uniforms.

"As a West Sider," Gordon said, "I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just an East Side thing."

About 105 students currently perform in the Maloney Marching Band, making it one of the largest competitive marching bands in the state. The students perform more than 30 times a year.