Local nonprofits Buckets of Rain and Great Lakes Friends of Safe Passage are organizing a “music marathon” next week in Traverse City which, if successful, will feature Woody Guthrie’s patriotic ballad “This Land is Your Land” sung, over and over again, for 72 hours straight. The performance will begin at noon on Tuesday, Sept. 17 and conclude at noon on Friday, Sept. 20.
The Empire Area Community Emergency Fund has gone into overdrive. Instead of the usual Sunday afternoon concert at a local venue, organizers Gerry Shiffman and Chris Skellenger have planned a day-long Summer Solstice Celebration for this Sunday, June 23, from noon until 9 p.m. at Empire’s Johnson Park. Two stages will feature continuous live music performed by 29 talented local musicians who have volunteered to support this effort.
Northern Michiganders with the urge to help someone in need in their community can take that altruistic step, and enjoy live music and a cold beer in the process. Tom Fordyce and his mates from Cabin Fever will perform on Sunday, Jan. 27, from 4-6 p.m., at the Empire Village Inn, as part of the Empire Area Community Emergency Fund’s (EACEF) monthly benefit concert.
On Oct. 26, Great Lakes Friends will host its seventh annual FIESTA to celebrate our community’s commitment to 550 children of families living in unimaginable poverty at Guatemala City’s garbage dump. Since 2005, Great Lakes Friends has raised nearly $170,000 to support the work of Safe Passage, a nonprofit formed in 1999 to bring hope and opportunity to these children.
You can help Buckets of Rain continue to feed the poor in Detroit, in Latin America and in Africa. There is a fundraiser at Boonedocks in Glen Arbor on Sunday, Sept. 9 from 3-6 p.m. that will include extreme gardening demonstrations, music and lots of photos.
Local Leelanau group 11 Oaks has been teaching subsistence farmers in developing countries how to use recycled water and simple drip irrigation to grow vegetables during drought. Since 2005, working in Africa and Central America, the non-profit charity has installed nearly 20 miles of pipe at orphanages, schools, hospitals, and in villages.