Theater Academy Student Raises $3,200 for First Stage's Kid2Kid Scholarship Program





Lena's First Stage t-shirt bears the Academy motto,
"life skills through stage skills" and is signed by Academy
students with thank you written in different languages.

   According to 12 year old Lena Gimbel, the best thing about First Stage Theater Academy is that, “no matter what you say, how you act or what you wear, you are NEVER made fun of.”  She’s been a student at Summer Academy for the last two years and considers her time at First Stage an experience that has “truly changed my life.”   

Lena recently embarked on a letter writing campaign to help other kids have the same amazing experience.  In lieu of Bat Mitzvah gifts, Lena sent letters to her friends and family asking them to consider a donation of 40, 80 or 120 dollars to First Stage’s Family Partnership Program.  

About a month after she mailed the letters an amazing thing happened.  Not only did her friends and family respond generously to Lena’s request, but they forwarded her letter on to their own friends.   Lena was receiving donations from people she’d never even met.  “It was just so amazing and really cool that people forwarded the letter on to their friends,” Lena said.  “You can make a difference,” she continued, “even if you’re only 12.”    

Lena’s $3,200 donation to First Stage will provide 10 children the opportunity to attend First Stage Theater Academy for a week this summer.  Thanks to the generosity of Lena and others like her, the First Stage scholarship program accounts for nearly 25% of Academy enrollment.   

If you would like to find out more about First Stage’s Scholarship Program, click here.  If you are interested in making a difference through a similar effort, please call (414) 267-2938.