The Friends of Holyoke Public Schools held a night full of fun and laughter on Friday, February 9th. Hosted at the Log Cabin, guests were provided dinner and a show created by the Boston Improv Asylum. All of the money collected from the tickets and raffles will help to supply financial  and other needs of teachers and  classroom needs across the district.

The Boston Improv Asylum was happy to come back to Holyoke as this year marks the 6th annual show. Throughout the show they created skits about challenges facing both the school systems and the city.

At every show the improve group likes to invite a local figure onto stage to participate in the show. This year mayor Alex Morse, Harry Melendez of Holyoke High School, and vice chair of school committee Devin Sheehan, were all pulled up the stage and added to the fun.

The Friends of Holyoke Public Schools was established back in 2008 and has increased since it was created. Through donations and the improv night they were able to grow their small grants program. In recent years they were able to donate IPads to Kelly School, materials needed for Sullivan Schools robotics and computer coding class and more advancements in other schools.

In 2017 alone, they awarded over $10,000 in small grants to schools across the city, with Holyoke High School receiving two grants of $2,900.

The Friends of Holyoke Public Schools work hard to supply the schools of Holyoke with the need of the classroom for the students academic success.

“It was a successful night!” said board of directors member and HHS teacher, Shelia Fallon. “The Improv Asylum came with a lot of new material because we wanted to make sure the event stayed upbeat.”

However, the fundraiser doesn’t end because the show is over! Donations are appreciated and are made payable to “Friends-HPS” or on their website http://www.friendshps.org/. The donations will be put to good use and help both students and teachers!