‘This music program is going to thrive’

FITCHBURG — The people behind the Steve Ciccolini Music Program & Education Memorial Fund were excited to make a $15,000 donation to a local nonprofit last week.

“This is allowing us to share the gift of music,” longtime Salvation Army Fitchburg Corps Envoy Lynnette Valentine-Warren said at the May 14 check presentation that drew state and local officials, Salvation Army volunteers and board members, and many people from the community.

She relayed that the money will be used to help pay for a music teacher that comes twice a month to the Water Street headquarters of the nonprofit to work with kids from Fitchburg, Leominster, and Lunenburg, the nonprofit’s coverage area.

“He is looking down and saying well done,” Valentine-Warren said of the late great Steve Ciccolini, the talented musician affectionately called Chic by those who knew him and loved him that the memorial fund is named after. “This music program is going to thrive.”

The city resident admitted to crying when she received an email about the generous donation.

“We are blessed to get this,” Valentine-Warren conveyed to those in attendance and thanked the memorial fund crew. “What would the world be like without music.”

This touching moment came ahead of the announcement the following day of the official launch of a capital campaign that will help fund a brand new $5 million Salvation Army Fitchburg Corps headquarters to replace the aging building. Project plans include a larger area for their music program that will enable them to hold concerts and more.

This Steve Ciccolini Music Program & Education Memorial Fund donation among the many others over the years totaling an impressive $120,500 tracks perfectly with the memorial fund’s goal of honoring Ciccolini, the well-respected and beloved lifelong Leominster resident who passed away from COVID in March of 2021.

“It’s our way of keeping his spirit alive, preserving his legacy, and ensuring that his impact on our lives remains profound and everlasting,” Chic’s brother and sister Mike Ciccolini and Donna Dubzinski expressed when donating to the music programs of three Fitchburg schools in April of 2024. “Honoring Steve is not only important to us; it’s a deeply personal commitment that strengthens our familial bonds and brings solace amidst the void his absence leaves behind.”

Sharon Sambito, one Ciccolini’s best friends, along with members of his family were inspired to start the memorial fund in his name that summer after he died. They have spread the wealth far and wide in the region, making donations to the music programs at Ayer-Shirley Regional, Fitchburg, Gardner, Leominster, Lunenburg, and St. Bernard’s high schools as well as elementary schools such as St. Anna Catholic School along with scholarships for local students and much more.

“We are very happy to be able to do this,” Sambito said of the recent $15K donation, adding that they were “blown away” when they found out the Salvation Army Fitchburg Corps even has a music program.

She went on to say they try “to stay as close to home as possible” by donating to organizations, schools, and groups in the Twin Cities of Fitchburg and Leominster and the area, “Steve’s backyard.”

Sambito shared that when they first started the memorial fund, they hoped to raise $10,000 for music scholarships for students. “Never in our wildest dreams” did they imagine they would end up raising and donating tens of thousands of dollars over the years to many worthy causes, she said.

“It was all Steve and what we think Steve would want and his legacy,” Sambito said of what has led them over the last five years before thanking everyone involved in the memorial fund who are keeping her dear friend’s memory alive.

“It’s a big group effort.”