A Salem man was able to set four Illinois Power Lifting records while on his way to raising money to purchase 14 new keyboards to allow Franklin Park Middle School students to still learn piano during COVID-19 restrictions.
Fourth through 8th-grade general music teacher Tasha Skibinski said Monty Murphy came to the rescue when COVID restrictions prevented her from doing a traditional fundraiser.
“Couldn’t share a device this year because of Covid so each individual student had to have their own piano so I wasn’t even going to be able to teach this curriculum without these pianos. So it was a game-changer for the music class. And all students in 6-8th grade benefited from it so this is amazing.”
Murphy said he wanted to help out because of the great experience his three daughters had in the Franklin Park music program.
“Tasha told me that they weren’t able to raise the funds due to Covid. I was already programming myself to do this powerlifting meet. And I thought no better way than to use Facebook and social media to raise the money. I did the penny-per-pound people could commit to how much weight I lifted in the competition. And as usual, it was embraced by the public, and here we are today, a check for $3800 for them to step up and buy what they needed.”
The 14 new keyboards were in place for the classes to begin in January.
Meanwhile, Murphy says he’s not done with the powerlifting he just started at the age of 45.
“Powerlifting is such a unique sport, you compete against yourself. There are records and stuff you can chase but with my first one, I really didn’t have any expectations. But now I know where I want to be. It’s a personal goal to eventually set 1300 pounds and since my meet, my age has changed and I’m in a new age division and hopefully, I can set 4 more state records in my new age group and chase a national bench press record.”
Murphy set the Illinois records at the Tennessee State Power Lifting competition in Brentwood, Tennessee in April.
Murphy says the breakdown of the fundraising includes over $1,600 through Facebook and Go Fund Me, $1,200 through the Power Lifting Collections along with donations from Bob’s Auto and NAL.
Franklin Park Music Teachers (left to right) Chris Smith, Tia Dunaway, and Tasha Skibinski. Photo by Bruce Kropp.
