By Jane Ridgeway

JANE RIDGEWAY/SPECIAL TO THE TOWN CRIER Ashley Trant, left, and Tamar Sloan, right, helped raise more than $1,000 for director Mark Shaull’s (center) choir, of which Derek Abraham was a member.

Los Altans flocked to the American Italian Delicatessen Aug. 3 to support a fundraiser in memory of Derek Abraham, an 18-year-old Los Altos High School graduate who died in a kite-surfing accident in Santa Cruz June 14.

Deli owner Tamar Sloan planned the fundraiser, donating half the proceeds of the day’s sandwich sales - more than $1,000 - to Los Altos High’s Main Street Singers, of which Abraham was a member.

The day of the fundraiser, old and new customers flooded the shop to buy sandwiches.

“We were so busy that day,” Sloan said.

Some sandwich-buyers knew Abraham personally, but many others were affected by his story and turned out to support the Main Street Singers.

“They wanted to do it for him, and for (the Singers),” Sloan said.

Mark Shaull, director of the Main Street Singers, came to the shop Aug. 10 to accept the donation, arriving early to beat the lunchtime rush.

“A lot of Main Street Singers have worked here over the years,” he said.

Tommy Yacoe, a deli employee, friend of Abraham’s and former Main Street Singer himself, came to the deli on his day off to present the proceeds to Shaull.

The sandwich proceeds amounted to just under $1,000, so Sloan and her husband pitched in to make up the difference. A last-minute check from a customer brought total proceeds to $1,050. Shaull said the fundraiser would go a long way in supporting his singers.

“We will definitely put it to good use,” he said.

Sloan said the fundraiser was a success not because of the money raised, but because of the spirit of the community coming together to support the Main Street Singers and remember Abraham.

“It was just a nice day,” she said.