Students, staff and community members painted over vandalism at Lacey Township High School that destroyed artwork that was created as a senior class fundraiser.
LACEY TOWNSHIP - When a motorist with ill will damaged artwork created during a fundraiser for Lacey Township High School's senior class, the community responded to help the students restore the artwork brighter and more beautiful than before.
Approximately a week after a group of high school seniors spent a couple days painting colorful artwork in their parking spaces in the school's parking lot, the students and staff learned that someone had damaged the murals by doing burnouts with truck tires across them.
"We were all disappointed and upset because all of our hard work was ruined and we were sad that someone would want to put us down for no reason," said senior class president Kylie Weissenburger, who pitched the idea for the fundraiser after she saw a famous cheerleader she follows on Instagram post pictures of a similar project at her high school.
Students, staff and community members spent Aug. 25 attempting to paint over vandalism at Lacey Township High School that destroyed artwork that was created as a senior class fundraiser. (Rob Spahr | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com) But what happened next illustrated what the Lacey Township community is all about, as donations of paint, supplies, food and manpower came pouring in from local businesses, residents and even other high schools.
"I can't even begin to tell you about the outpouring that happened, it's truly been amazing," said Sally DiPaola, a French teacher at the high school and the senior class advisor. "Within 12 hours of finding out about the vandalism, I had people from all over the community asking me what they could do to help."
Dozens of students spent $25 a piece for the opportunity to paint their parking spots for the year, which DiPaola said took them two days of work to complete.
The money raised goes to help fund opportunities for the senior class, including prom and helping underprivileged students pay for things, such as the caps and gowns for their graduations.
"The kids were obviously very upset and it was devastating for them when the vandalism occurred. But they were also very brave, because they were just like 'OK, what can we do to fix it and when can we fix it?'" DiPaola said.
Two of the non-students who took part in the effort to repaint the murals were board of education members Donna McAvoy and Shawn Giordano.
"As a board member, I wanted to come and help student fix spots that were ruined. It was an honor to be asked to come and help," McAvoy said. "The students did such a wonderful job. We're so proud of their school spirit and I personally wanted to be part of this helping them out.""
"When I saw pictures of the damage, I got very upset because with the level of thought, heart and soul, and creativeness that these kids put into these creations - there's some excellent artwork out here - it really bothered me," Giordano said. "So when they said they were going to have a bigger and better event, I wanted to be part of it and to come help out in restoring things. And it looks like these kids did a fantastic job doing that."
Student government president Jacqueline Frazee said the painted parking spaces now have more meaning than they did before.
"Seeing how many people were reaching out to us to help and to donate supplies to us, it was incredible to see that people actually cared. And it wasn't just painted parking spots that meant something, it was that someone took away something from us and they wanted to help us," Frazee said. "So having people reaching out to us was absolutely amazing and I think that everyone in this community now has a piece in this, so now I think it means more to the whole town."
Hours before the effort to repaint the parking spaces was scheduled to kick off, the Lacey Township Police Department announced that an extensive investigation by Detectives Robert Surtees and Michael Eden resulted in a 17-year-old being charged with causing the estimated $2,500 worth of damage to the parking spaces.
The teen, whose name was not released, was charged with criminal mischief, reckless driving, driving without a license and operating an unregistered vehicle, police said.
While the students said they were glad the person allegedly responsible for the damaged was charged, they preferred to instead focus on more positive things.
"It means so much to us and makes so happy that everyone wanted to support us," Weissenburger said. "Everybody was just great and it made us feel a lot better."
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.