Coastal generosity remains impressive

Once again, residents, businesses and organizations in the coastal area have demonstrated their seemingly endless generosity by chipping in to cover the substantial cost of sending the Stephen Decatur High School Marching Band to Hawaii for a Pearl Harbor day ceremony.

It was 84 years ago last week, on Dec. 7, that the Japanese delivered a devasting blow to this country’s Pacific naval fleet in a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.

The destruction included three battleships and numerous other ships sunk and many vessels damaged. Among the latter was the USS Maryland, which suffered two hits but survived.

In the Dec. 7 Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade in Waikiki, bands from states with namesake battleships moored there at the time of the attack were invited to participate, and this year the SDHS band was asked to represent Maryland.

Which it did, thanks to more than $125,000 in donations from area businesses and residents.

Going to and staying in Oahu for an extended weekend this time of year is expensive enough for a couple, but the cost of sending 37 band members and 10 adults to the island? Ordinarily, with a total price tag of $130,000, that would be considered prohibitively expensive … except for here.

The coastal region has a long tradition of contributing to a variety of causes, as hardly a day goes by that doesn’t have a fundraiser of some kind taking place. It has become part of the culture it seems and there’s no doubt that we’re all better off for it.

In this instance, donors contributed more than $125,000 to send this delegation to a resort city 5,000 miles away and took care of everything except for a few meals.

That’s impressive. But then again, it’s just the way we do things around here.