First ever Music and Movies fundraiser to be held at Blair

The PTSA and Blair's Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) club are sponsoring the Music and Movie fundraiser in the school gym from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, where Music and Movie Liquidators will bring over $100,000-worth of CDs, audio cassettes, DVDs and VHS cassettes to sell at reduced prices. According to the company's founder, Blair and the PTSA will receive $1,500 from the company for hosting the fundraiser, and from 30 to 50 percent of profits depending on total sales. Parent and student volunteers, as well as student bands, are needed for the event.

The event will be the first public school fundraiser in the county to sell music and movies, according to Larry Kay, who started Music and Movie Liquidators with partner Mark Applebaum. Kay stated that the company chose Blair as a pioneer site for their project because of Blair's size and ethnic makeup. "Blair has a good size, is located in a place with good traffic; the sale is open to all so anyone can easily drop by," Kay said. "This is a community-building event, and with 15 feeder schools, Blair has a nice and large community that speaks to the diverse collection [of products] we have to offer." If the sales at Blair are successful, the company plans to set up similar fundraiser across the county and eventually the state.

Movies, everything from old Westerns and foreign language flicks to the newly-released romantic comedies, and music, from rap and rock to reggae and salsa, will be sold at 30 to 65 percent off of original prices, according to FBLA sponsor and entrepreneurship teacher Derek Sontz, who also advised students wishing to buy the R-rated movies and parental advisory music at the fundraiser to first acquire parental permission. Kay said that most items will be sold at $5 to $13 as opposed to store retail values of $12 to $30. "[Applebaum's] and my connections with a New Jersey supplier enable us to sell all this stuff at pretty steep discounts," divulged Kay.

Representatives from Music and Movie Liquidator, including Kay, along with Sontz and some members of FBLA will be supervising the sale on Saturday, according to Sontz and Kay. In addition, said Sontz, the fundraiser will require at least 15 student volunteers and 15 parent volunteers. "We need about five groups of people there, operations, setup and tear-down, marketing, entertainment, like the school band, step team or student musical groups, and security," he stated.

To increase security, a few policemen will be present at the sale at all times. Kay, however, is not very worried. "We know that Blair has had some problems with theft, but then again, theft is always an issue at these sorts of sales, so we don't think it'll be too bad," he explained.

Though the fundraiser coincides with a SAT testing day, Kay is confident that the fundraiser will produce a high buyer turn-out rate, since he believes that the products hold a fresh appeal to everyone. "Most fundraisers, like your wrapping paper sales, magazine drives and Sally Foster things that schools hold have been done before. Most parents are bored of them. As a parent, I just roll my eyes and sign the check," Kay admitted. "This fundraiser, however, has potential to be very successful since everybody listens to music and watches movies."

Sontz's entrepreneurship students contributed many ideas to the fundraiser, stated Kay, who visited Sontz's classes to speak about owning a business. The students suggested prize raffles, food sales and concession stands for the Music and Movie sale, all of which Kay hopes to incorporate into the sales event.

If you are interested in volunteering or performing at the Music and Movie sale on May 7, contact Derek Sontz in room 241 or email him at sontzder@mbhs.edu.