Benefit a Huge Success

Friday night's benefit for the family of Police Chief Bruce Ruch who had pancreatic cancer and passed away a month ago, was a huge success.

The event at the Holy Family Social Club began at 8:00 p.m. with Dave Doll on stage. He was followed by 9919. While we heard bits and pieces of these bands, as we got inside we saw many friends and some we hadn't seen in some time (the young kids seem to have kept us away from the 'adult' social events;-) so it was fun catching up.

In the bar area there were t-shirts in memory of Chief Ruch being sold. All night the table was attended to by acting interim Chief, Detective Alan Koch and his wife. On the other end of the room there were many raffle items and Upper Nazareth Chief Alan Siegfried, his wife and daughter were selling tickets and answering questions. My apologies to anyone I may miss, but All Decked Out, Nazareth Floral Design, the YMCA, Wegman's, Citgo, artwork by Fran MacDonald and Mary Jane Lahr, Lamberts' Jewelry, Oswalds' Jewelry, Verve Salon,
and many more were available. In a crowd that included a very large percentage of Martin Guitar employees (each of the four bands had members who worked there as well) what appeared to be the most sought after item was a Martin Guitar (valued at I believe around $400). There were also door prizes that were given out between each performance.

As we looked at items and talked to people we saw State Rep. Craig Dally and his wife and Borough Council President Dan Chiavaroli and his wife as well as officers with Nazareth ties who are on other forces in the area. After an hour and a half of talking (those of you that know me know I can talk) we finally made our way into the Hall to see that last couple numbers of 9919.

When their set ended Brian Pritchard shifted from performer to MC and called out door prize and raffle winners. He was very much responsible for collecting items and in speaking with him and Chris Thomas it appeared that the raffle was also a huge success.

Chris sings and plays a Martin guitar as he noted on stage for Magic Bean. The band opened with "The Weight" by the Band and Chris referenced the town's inspiration for the opening of it (read about the Martin Custom Guitar being made for Robbie Robertson who wrote the classic song here). From that they played some Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and mixed in many of their own original songs in the about 50 minute set.

Point-0-Eight closed the show with a loud, fun set that got the dance floor filled and put an exclamation mark on a great night.

I did speak briefly with Chris before and after his set and they did sell out all the tickets, which was great to hear.

The event would not have been possible if not for the Holy Family Club who donated the use of the Hall, the Bands, the businesses who provided raffle and door prizes and the hard work and the effort of all of the people (many from Martin Guitar), who volunteered their time and effort to honor the memory of Police Chief Ruch, while supporting his family both financially and emotionally.