Safe Passage holds fundraiser concert in Traverse City

From staff reports

The Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage will hold a fundraiser concert featuring Marta Goméz on June 26 at 6 p.m. at the Milliken Auditorium in nearby Traverse City. Tickets are $40. A limited number of discounted tickets for students and children are available on a first come basis. Call (231) 590-6072 or email greatlakesfriends@safepassage.org for ticket reservations.

This year, the international nonprofit Safe Passage celebrates 10 years of providing education and integrated social support to over 500 of Guatemala’s most impoverished children and their families. Due to the success of the program, today, Safe Passage is widely recognized as a model for providing life opportunities to impoverished communities and for marshalling international collaboration, volunteerism and contributions in support of this vision.

Safe Passage boasts many connections to Northern Michigan, and Leelanau County in particular. The Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage is a local group of volunteers who support the mission and vision of the organization. The Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Safe Passage is Cedar-resident Sharon Workman.

Safe Passage is teaming up with the fabulous Colombian singer-songwriter Marta Goméz to translate the power of imagination into lyrical Latin music in a series of celebration concerts in the United States, Guatemala and Europe. The goal of these events is to inspire a renewed international commitment to secure the progress and promise of Safe Passage for the next decade. In the past three years, the Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage held “Fiestas” which were very successful at raising funds and promoting awareness and interest in Safe Passage. This year, we have a special opportunity to join with others from around the world to celebrate this tenth anniversary of bringing hope and opportunity to children and families trapped in grinding cycles of poverty. The Marta Goméz tour will start in Traverse City. Additional performances will follow in Maine and the Netherlands in August, North Carolina in September, Guatemala in October, and end in Boston and New York City in November.

Our tenth anniversary concert at the Milliken Auditorium will include a wine and cheese reception, a brief presentation about Safe Passage by Barbara Nijhuis, Executive Director, and a short live auction of five prized items, including a trip for two to Guatemala, and a week’s stay in a lovely home in Antigua. Following Marta’s performance, we will end the evening with a birthday cake, piñata and other goodies.
Marta Goméz was featured on Public Radio International’s program, “The World,” during which she mentioned helping Safe Passage.