By Setarreh Massihzadegan
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

There’s more on the Valentine’s Day agenda than romantic dinners—at least, at Linden Ponds.

For the second year in a row, the community will host a Valentine’s Day event to raise money for the children of the Canton-based Massachusetts Hospital School (MHS). MHS is a comprehensive center for children and young adults living with physical disabilities.

This year’s event, held on Feb. 7, brings in the original cast of the nostalgic Off- Broadway comedy Forever Plaid for a full-length show at Linden Ponds. The musical tells the story of a quartet of 1950s male singers performing their grandest concert posthumously.

A unique final exam
Specifically, the show at Linden Ponds raises money for the MHS senior trip, which is the pinnacle of students’ high school careers.

After taking courses to prepare for money and time management, self care, and peer interaction, the students test their abilities in an unforgettable final exam: a journey to Disney World.

“It’s an awfully good cause,” says Louise Stitt, who lives at Linden Ponds and runs the Events Committee. The committee got involved after watching a short video about the trip, which featured photo montages and interviews with staff and students of MHS. “We saw their video and our hearts went out to them.”

Time to be a child
The cost of the trip is approximately $4,300 per student, which includes a chaperone for each child. Last year, 24 staff members and 15 students went. Most of the students use wheelchairs and—to experience Disney’s amusement park rides—have to be lifted in and out of them as many as a dozen times a day.

“Some of these kids never have the chance to be a child. There’s so much demanded of them medically,” says Dick Crisafulli, director of recreation and athletics at MHS, who has organized the trip for almost 23 years. “If a kid can take one trip in their life, Disney is the place to go.”