Sunny with a chance of golf balls

HAYDEN LAKE - It was an exciting moment Saturday morning as a helicopter hovered about 100 feet above Avondale Golf Club, waiting to release hundreds of numbered golf balls onto the green.

A few children jumped up and down with delight when the golf balls began to shower forth. The crowd of people anxiously waited to know which ball was closest to the cup.

"Is there a ball in the hole? That's the $1,000 question," teased Michael Harrison, Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy's director of instrumental music.

The golf ball drop served as a fundraiser for Charter's band and orchestra programs. Students sold 691 golf ball tickets at $10 each and presented the owner of the winning golf ball with a check for $1,000.

And that winning golf ball did, indeed, land in the cup.

"Of course, I'm so happy," said grand prize winner Jill Hathaway of Coeur d'Alene. "It's going to pay for my kids' ski passes."

Hathaway purchased two tickets from a band student. She was not present to receive her giant check in person, but was pleased to hear the news after the event.

"I think they have a great idea," Hathaway said of Charter. "I think they have a great program, very academically oriented, and I applaud them for their ingenuity."

Charter seventh-grader and orchestra viola player Nicole Cicero, 12, of Coeur d'Alene, won $100 for selling the most tickets. She sold 55.

"It feels good," she said. "My grandma helps a lot. She buys a lot of tickets to help support the school."

After Hathaway's $1,000 and Nicole's $100 top-selling prize were subtracted from the total raised by the students, Charter's music programs walked away with about $5,800 to help with purchasing sheet music, instruments, convention costs and other expenditures that come with continuation and expansion. The helicopter was flown free of charge by Aspen Homes founder Todd Stam and Avondale also permitted its land to be used for the event at no cost.

"I can't believe one went in the hole," said Charter mom Jessica Bonar of Hayden.

Bonar said the helicopter golf ball drop was her idea, but she "stole" it from a friend who was successful with the same kind of fundraiser.

"Because Charter does not participate in any of the local levy money, we do additional fundraising for the band and orchestra program," she said. "Mr. Harrison has quite a wish list. He could easily buy a bassoon for $4,000, so we want him to have the opportunity for our kids to have the most fruitful musical education."

Rachel Kaitz of Coeur d'Alene has two kids who attend Charter. She said this particular fundraiser raised the same amount of money in a half hour as others that may take as long as a year to complete.

"It's efficient and it doesn't put a huge burden on the families or on the participants," Kaitz said. "It was a really well done fundraiser, but of course, leave it to Charter to do things smarter, not harder, right?"

This was the second year for the golf ball drop. Harrison said he thought it was great to see and feel such a sense of commitment from everyone involved.

"We're not here just to play some music, we're here to build a program," he said.

He said while other arts programs in the nation are experiencing budget cuts and dwindling numbers, Charter's music programs are expanding in large part because of support from Charter's administrators, parents and "the students, who show up here to freeze their butts off and play some music on a Saturday morning. That says a lot, too.

"We're happy to have a hole-in-one."