MAJOR FUNDRAISING FOR THE KIDS

The IDES OF MARCH had an extraordinary Tuesday on October 21st 2025.

We began the day at the IDES Alma Mater: Morton West High School in Berwyn, Illinois. At a special Assembly, we presented two drum sets (one for each campus) in the name of our Charity “A Vehicle For Education,” in partnership with the DW Music Foundation. Both the Students in the audience, and the crew backstage were very enthusiastic to greet us, as were Principal Kristy Cavanaugh and the teachers/staff moderating the event. We played “Vehicle” and “Eye Of The Tiger” to a roaring response, our Mike Borch playing one of the drum sets we donated. It’s always great to return to our beloved High School and meet the new generation.

Following the Morton event, we made our way up to Ron Onesti’s Des Plaines Theatre for the “Stars For Sara” event, a benefit dedicated to the Daughter of popular WLS-TV personality Roz Varon (Sara), who tragically passed at an early age. The performers and audience were chock full of Chicago Media personalities, and it was great to hang with the folks we have seen and heard on Chicago TV and Radio for so long. We were “Deputy Buckinghams” as we backed Bucks Singer Carl Giammarese on their huge hit “Mercy Mercy Mercy”. It’s really a fun song to play and sing, and Jim nailed it when Carl threw the second verse to him. WLS-TV personality (and longtime IDES pal) Ryan Chiaverini joined us for “Vehicle” and sang the heck out of the second verse of our big hit. The entire cast of the show joined us onstage for “Eye Of The Tiger”, and the audience was right with us, supplying a rousing ovation. The event raised over $20K, with the total still growing.