Kids Get Gift From Hopatcong Band

Chalk it up as another successful fundraiser.

Hopatcong band Goodbye Friday gave 90 tickets to State Fair Meadowlands to the borough's Head Start, a daycare program for low-income families, and autographed photos for the children on Monday. The pop-punk rockers will headline the state's largest fair, which drew more than 400,000 people over a week-plus last year.

Head Start family worker Mickey Filtz said she was ecstatic with the band's donation.

"Let me tell you, they were a bunch of very outstanding young men that gave up their time to do this and to talk to the children," Filtz said. "It was very, very nice that they did that."

Filtz said Head Start, which has about 20 children at the moment, gave families an end-of-the-year picnic Monday. She said about 80 people attended, and some of the younger girls asked Goodbye Friday to play some of Justin Bieber's biggest hits. Each family member received a ticket to the fair.

Hopatcong Head Start, which NORWESCAP runs, is located on 406 Wills Avenue and is for children 3 and 4 years old. Daycare starts at 8:30 a.m. and ends at 3:30 p.m. and features a nurse, breakfast, lunch and a snack.

"It's really a wonderful program," Filtz said.

Last week, Goodbye Friday , a 10-year-old Hopatcong resident with an inoperable benign brain tumor.