Yorktown, NY, January 13th--The Justin Veatch Fund held its first annual music scholarship fundraiser/dinner/dance featuring the Class Action band at Putnam Golf Course on January 12th. The music program also featured performances by former Justin Veatch Fund music scholarship recipients. Nearly $4,000 was raised for new scholarships.
The Justin Veatch Fund has awarded thirty five $1,000 music scholarship to graduating high school seniors since 2009 and will award at least six more this June, including one honoring the late Al Capellini of Yorktown.
In addition to awarding music scholarships, The Fund provides mentoring for teen musicians and creates programs on teen drug abuse prevention. The Fund was created following the accidental drug overdose death of Justin Veatch, a musically talented Yorktown High School Senior, in 2008. Jeffrey Veatch, Justin's father, has presented his multimedia talk "A Message from Justin" to thousands of students in the greater New York region and the Veatch story is told in the documentary film Whispering Spirits.