‘Night Of Voices’ Event Raises Funds For Kids In Poverty
‘Night Of Voices’ Event Raises Funds For Kids In Poverty
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
‘Night Of Voices’ Event Raises Funds For Kids In PovertyStudents will be singing and dancing in Warsaw Saturday night to help children in other countries out of poverty.
A Night of Voices is at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Performing Arts. It is the fourth year for the event that benefits the international nonprofit organization When I Grow Up. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased on the Wagon Wheel website and at the door.
“In the past three years we’ve raised over $20,000 for the organization,” said Bethany Hall, who organizes the event with her husband, Thomas.
When I Grow Up “works to empower children out of extreme poverty,” Bethany said. “That would be in places like Kenya - specifically they have a school in the Huruma slum, outside the outskirts of Narobi, Kenya - and there’s a school in Guatemala and a school in Haiti.”
She said that what makes When I Grow Up stand apart from other organizations is that it works alongside the people in each of the countries in their own grassroots movement to bring their own people out of extreme poverty.
“It’s not an organization that goes in and does any kind of work for them. They do funding, they raise funding, friendship and accountability. And past that, it is a Kenyan movement, a Guatemalan movement, a Haitian movement,” she said.
Bethany said the students are “really excited” about Saturday’s event. When I Grow Up founder Gilbert Foster is a good friend of the Halls’ and he founded the organization in 2006.
Bethany has traveled to Kenya twice and has seen the organization’s work herself.
“When you walk into the slum, you see absolutely disaster. You’re literally walking in sewage water. Sometimes up to your ankles where you have to wear boots to get around. Then you walk in the same slum, which is just a one-square mile area which over 600,000 people live in, and you’re walking in this sewage and then you walk into this school. And it’s this lively place where there are children learning and being fed. It’s just remarkable what the Kenyans have done with the resources they have been given,” she said.
Every ticket purchased for Saturday’s event provides 100 meals toward a child in extreme poverty.
The price of the ticket for A Night of Voices includes a free dessert and coffee. Concessions and the bar will be open for purchases. One hundred percent of the profit goes to the mission, not to the administration.
When the two-hour show begins, Bethany will make an introduction on the work that When I Grow Up is doing in the three countries. For the rest of the evening, there will be performances from Thomas’ voice students, and Warsaw Community High School Select Dance and Choirs. About 60 students are involved. There will be solos, duets and ensembles, with a few numbers having choreographed dance.
“It will be a fast-paced night. Music varies anywhere from Queen to musical theater. A huge variety of musical selections,” Bethany said, adding there’s a 15-minute intermission.
During intermission and after the show, additional cash and check donations for When I Grow Up will be sought. Bethany also will explain to the audience Saturday about how to give online.
Bethany said the students understand what the event is for and have taken ownership of it. “It is an opportunity for them to use their voice to be a voice for people who live in extreme poverty. It’s not that those who live in extreme poverty don’t have a voice, it’s that they don’t have avenues for it to be used to be heard so we can provide that in this venue,” she said.
Sophia Schlitt, a senior at WCHS and one of Hall’s voice students, has performed all four years in the event. Saturday, she will sing a solo of “Defying Gravity” from the Broadway musical “Wicked” and a duet of “A Dangerous Game” from “Jekyll and Hyde” with Will Robison.
“It’s a really nice opportunity to get to help if you’re not fortunate enough to get to travel to the different countries that we’re helping with this organization. It’s really nice to use your own voice and to give these children voices to help them educate themselves without actually going to the country itself,” she said. “It’s also nice because you’re not just giving donations but you’re getting a show out of it.”
Jasmine Schlitt, Sophia’s mother, said, “This is an absolutely amazing event. Not only for the kids in Kenya, but for the talent in Warsaw. These young children, some of them are 15 years old, they get up on stage and give their heart. These kids give their heart out. I never could do this, I still can’t. These kids get up there and it’s absolutely phenomenal. These kids give their heart out and it’s for other children. It’s absolutely amazing.”
