Wintertime has finally hit the Tri-Town. There’s snow on the ground, salt on the roads, sleds on the hills and flamingoes on the lawns. Three of those statements sound appropriate for the month of January, but where are these lawn flamingoes coming from? The pink plastic creatures are the Old Rochester Regional Junior High School’s Red Cheerleading Squad’s latest attempt at fundraising for their upcoming trip to Florida.
“I’m really excited to be going to Florida,” said Nara Underhill, a 14-year-old ninth grade member of the cheerleading squad. “This is my first year doing cheerleading.”
In November, the squad qualified for a trip to Florida after placing high in their regional competition. In just a few short weeks on February 8, the 12 girls will be on their way to Orlando, provided that they are able to raise the $12,000 needed to get them there.
“We’ve been working hard,” said Underhill.
It was Underhill’s mom Dawn and fellow parent Edythe Saucier-Camboia who came up with the festive idea of the Flamingo Flocking. For $25, residents in the Tri-Town can have 25 plastic lawn flamingos placed or “flocked” on a yard of their choice anonymously.
For those who do not want their lawn flocked, they can pay $20 for Flocking Insurance. If you’ve recently been flocked, you can pay $10 to find out who flocked you. All money raised from flocking will go directly to the squad to cover travel and accommodation expenses.
For the past few weeks, Nara and teammate Tessa Saucier-Camboia have been sneaking around at night, the prime time for flocking.
“We’ve been having a lot of fun,” said Underhill.
In addition to the flocking, the parents of the squad have coordinated Foxwoods trips, movie nights, dances and hair-cutting fundraisers. They also have an online donation website which raised over $4,000 for the squad. So far, they’ve reached a little over $6,000, but they still have a long way to go before they head to Disney.
To donate to the squad directly online, visit rally.org/cheer-2-disney. For more information on flocking, contact Dawn Underhill at 508-763-5356 or Edythe Saucier-Camboia at 508-667-6964.
By Katy Fitzpatrick
