Chester Business Owner Helps Fundraise For Piping, Drumming Group

CHESTER, NJ — COVID had brought challenges throughout communities and one of them has been the way that non-profit groups fundraise.

Rory O’Moore School of Pipes and Drums, like other piping and drumming groups, is a mainstay at parades, special events and even at funerals, warming hearts with their nostalgic cadences as they take part in different processions sporting their tartans.

Founded in 1995, the Morris County-based school in Ledgewood is a 501(c)3 non-profit group of children and adults who enjoy playing the bagpipes and drums.

Virginia Kelton Butkus who owns the Old Mill Tavern with her husband John, started learning to play the bagpipes four years ago, she told Patch, learning them as part of her heritage. Her first parade was in Nutley before the pandemic hit.

“We always have a good crowd,” Butkus said, recalling the excitement when pipers and drummers have come to play at the Old Mill Tavern.

During one of the appearances, she said, one of the pipers, a 10th grader, was piping between the Old Mill and Redwoods Grill & Bar, to the delight of restaurant-goers in both locations.

See a video below of a Rory O’Moore performance in 2019:

Butkus told Patch and expressed in a Facebook post that the school’s normal fundraising activities, which include a yearly dinner dance to help defray the cost of uniforms, rent, pay for instructors and other needs for the school, haven’t taken place in the pandemic. With the unknown that continues because of COVID, the dinner dance was again postponed for this year, she said.

Instead, she said the group is doing a “progressive 50/50.”

Want to take part in the progressive 50/50? Here’s how it works.

The school explains on its website that 215 tickets have been sold so far, with 300 the minimum goal, according to the post on the Old Mill Tavern Facebook Page.

“We are selling tickets at $50,” they wrote. “Three winners will split 50 percent of the collected money.”

Here’s the breakdown so far with 215 tickets sold as of Dec. 7, with the payout $5,375 if the number of tickets sold stayed at 215.

• First prize 50 percent - $2,688
• Second prize 30 percent - $1,613
• Third prize 20 percent - $1,075

“The more tickets we sell, the bigger the payout,” the school wrote on its website.

How can you buy a progressive 50/50 ticket to benefit the school?

You can either:

Buy a ticket on the Rory O’ Moore website at www.roryomoore.com and click the red button on the homepage marked “Enter the 50-50.” That takes you to the landing page for the 50-50 which is www.roryomoore.com/50-50.

You can contact members of the band and if you’re local to Mendham and Chester, one of them is Virginia Kelton Butkus.

She said people can contact her directly on Facebook Messenger or call her at 201-519-7171.

From there, she said she can take cash, check or Venmo on behalf of the school and coordinate payment with people interested in buying one or more tickets.

She can send ticket(s) to people buying one by mail or send a photo of the ticket bought by email.

The drawing is on Jan. 8, 2022 at the St. Therese School Gym in Succasunna, so you’ll want to do it soon. According to the contest rules, the winner doesn’t need to be there for the drawing and no substitution of the cash prize will be made.

Find out more information about the Rory O’Moore School of Pipes and Drums at www.roryomoore.com.
Check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ROMSPD.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a local news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.