Eliot Residents to Sponsor Annual Skating Exhibition

Residents of Eliot House will sponsor their 13th annual Jimmy Fund Ice Skating Exhibition this November, upholding a House tradition which raises money for the Children's Memorial Hospital in Brookline.

The Public Broadcasting System will for the first time ever televise the event nationally. Last year's efforts raised more than $65,000 from donations and the sale of tickets and souvenirs at the Bright Hockey Center.

Eliot residents interviewed yesterday explained that the skating show creates an unusual sense of comraderie in a House widely perceived as a haven for athletes and preparatory school graduates. "Everyone gets involved in some way," said Sarah Slusser '84, who ushered for last year's exhibition.

Mildred Rivera '84 noted that one reason for the project's annual success is that it is a "pet project" of House Master Alan E. Heimert, Powell M. Cabot Professor of American Literature.

Heimert described the event as "more than a pet project," calling it his "most-favorite thing in all my years at Eliot House."

The skating exhibition was first held in 1970 at the suggestion of John Misha Petkevich '71, an Eliot House resident and U.S. skating champion.

Eliot donates funds raised by the show to the Boston-based Jimmy Fund, which was established in 1947 to benefit the Children's Hospital. In addition to Eliot House the Boston Red Sox and the New England Chiefs of Police have regularly raised money for the Jimmy Fund.

This year, the skating exhibition will feature noted U.S. skating champions Michael Siebert and Judy Blumberg. Past participants include Randy Gardner and Dorothy Hamill.