A CD release party will take place on Sept. 23 at the Moose Family Center in Chicopee.
Sandy L. Miliefsky left her job as a surrogate program coordinator for Stavros in Amherst and Springfield four years ago to pursue her songwriting dream.
And she’s hoping proceeds from the sale of her first CD will help disabled military personnel returning from war zones realize their dream of an accessible home.
A CD release party will take place on Sept. 23, 2 to 4:30 p.m., at the Moose Family Center on 244, Fuller Road, Chicopee. Miliefsky’s CD will be on sale featuring her “Widows, Mothers and Lovers,” a song she wrote based on a woman whose fiancé was severely injured in Iraq. Singer Donna Lee – who performs her own original music and a tribute to Patsy Cline – performs the song with background music by Bill Schontz, known as part of the folk-flavored duo Rosenshontz. The disc will also feature "Far North Again," written by Norman Shell.
The cost of the CD is $5. Miliefsky has written “Hard Core Memories,” that might be included if it can be recorded in time for the party.
“I write country music,” Miliefsky said. “It tells stories revolving around real-life situations.”
She also wrote a song called “Take the Ring Off your Finger;” Schontz sang the song and did the background music for the recording of it. She hopes he will sing it at the party.
During the party, a representative of Homes for Our Troops will speak about the organization.
Homes for Our Troops, a national non-profit organization founded in 2004 and based in Taunton, is committed to helping those who have selflessly given to this country and have returned home with serious disabilities and injuries since Sept. 11, 2001. It assists severely injured veterans and their immediate families by raising donations of money, building materials and professional labor and to coordinate the process of building a home that provides maximum freedom of movement and the ability to live more independently.
“I think it’s a good cause,” Miliefsky said. “My heart goes out to folks with disabilities. To give a person an accessible home is the most wonderful thing in the world.”
Stavros – where she used to work – seeks to give people with disabilities the tools to take charge of their life choices, act on their own behalf and overcome situations that reduce their potential for independence.
Tickets for the CD release party are $8 each and available at the door. The price includes dancing and a dessert table. “Diets are being left at home,” Miliefsky laughed.