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“I wanted to honor my daughter’s memory, but didn’t expect I could make a dream come true.”
When Melissa Nickel was struck and killed by a car in 1985 at the end of her freshman year of high school, her family looked to turn their tragedy into a way to make a difference.
Melissa’s father, Al Nickel, uses the Melissa Nickel Memorial Fund he established at the Foundation to support organizations in Fairfield County as a way to honor his daughter.
The Wilton resident favors programs that help teens and promote educational accomplishments.
“Any time you can help jumpstart children in life, you open doors to possibilities,” he said. “They realize, ‘This can happen, I can do it.’ ”
The Foundation approached Al about funding a program aligned with his interests. The Norwalk Youth Symphony offers
“Lessons in the Schools,” which provides one-on-one instruction to aspiring young musicians. After learning how this program helps them matriculate into one of the Youth Symphony’s four orchestras, he quickly agreed.
“That’s one of the things about the Foundation–it knows which programs are important, well run, and match your goals for giving,” Al said. “I’m amazed at the variety of organizations that the Foundation touches.”
While the memorial fund for his daughter is broad-based in nature, Al said helping teenage girls get ahead and realize their dreams is often the most meaningful to him.
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“I never, ever thought I’d stand in front of Mozart’s house.”
Standing at the doorstep of the composer’s childhood home in Salzburg, Katherine Cifuentes came face-to-face with the history of music in a way no textbook could provide.
For the Norwalk High School junior who has studied violin for six years, a two-week summer trip to Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary with the Norwalk Youth Symphony was more than she ever imagined.
“We played in Loretto, Salzburg and Prague,” Katherine said, beaming.
Back home, Katherine spent the rest of her summer practicing and attending private music lessons through the Norwalk Youth Symphony’s “Lessons in the Schools” program. She hoped to be invited to join one of the symphony’s orchestras after the August auditions.
“Mr. Brooks was my teacher, and I learned so much from him,” she said.
The extra instruction and her practicing paid off. Her audition was successful.
While Katherine isn’t sure she’ll study music in college, she is sure of one thing. The trip to Europe and her involvement in the Symphony have opened her eyes to the possibilities in life.
“The experiences and opportunities I’ve been given as a violin student are a dream come true.” |
