WASILLA -- Thanks to a donation, the Colony High School band has reached the low end of a fundraising target to make the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration parade in Washington, D.C., band supporters said today.

The Mat-Su Health Foundation contributed $10,000 toward the trip at a spaghetti feed Tuesday night at Palmer's Elks Lodge, said Lynn Gattis, music booster club secretary. That amount, combined with another $5,000 in donations from the fundraiser, means the state's only active marching band has drummed up a total of $58,000 since early December -- enough to pay for travel and food, though not much in the way of lodging or meals out during the trip.

The foundation's donation also means the band no longer needs to ask for $15,000 from the Mat-Su Borough School Board. The request is still on the board's agenda for a meeting tonight, but members will simply not vote on it, said acting board president Colleen Hamblen.

Meanwhile, fundraising continues. Somebody just mailed a $1,000 check to the high school, Gattis said.

"We owe this success to the hardworking parents and students, and the generosity of fellow Alaskans and friends across the country," Burton and Gattis wrote in a letter e-mailed to the school board today.