WILMINGTON — Several local bands have united for a concert at Wrightsville Beach Brewery this Saturday to help raise funds for the homeless and displaced, as well as farmers whose near-harvest crops were damaged by Hurricane Florence.
Funds from the concert will go towards Good Shepherd — Downtown Wilmington’s sole homeless shelter after the destruction of Salvation Army’s building on 2nd Street — as well as Humble Roots Farm.
“So often, artists are some of the first people to band together and reach out and do something really meaningful for the community. It’s a beautiful thing,” Good Shepherd Center Associate Development Director Stacy Geist said.
Signal Fire bassist Cullen Seward coordinated with fellow Wilmington bands Elephant Convoy, Michael Eakins, Travis Shallow and The Deep End to perform Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m.
A suggested $10 donation can be given at the front door.
For every $10, a raffle ticket will be given out for prizes donated from local businesses.
As of Monday afternoon the prizes include, a Yeti tailgate package from Redix and a surfers’ package from Sweetwater Surf Shop. Wrightsville Beach Brewery will also donate a dollar from every beer sold during the concert.
A resilient community
“Wilmington’s just a resilient community man,” musician Travis Shallow said. “For the musicians to be able to bring people together and give them some entertainment, a break from the last two weeks of all they’ve been through, and to also raise some money for the people affected — it’s a beautiful thing, it’s a no-brainer.”
“The biggest goal other than raising funds for these people is to uplift,” Seward said. “To be a wave of positivity. That’s our whole vibe on this. There’s going to be a lot of benefit events popping up and we’re stoked. It’s not like one concert will put forth the things in the community that need to take place.”
Seward said he has enjoyed the business community’s general response to Florence.
“Everyone from musicians, hair dressers, mortgage brokers taking everything they know and using it on a charitable side — business enterprises becoming charitable enterprises,” Seward said.
He also said the decision to organize the concert came from an underlying responsibility to give back to a community that has constantly supported artists like himself.
Geist felt honored by everyone involved, from the musicians to the brewery to the artists and graphic designers.
“Because as a community we’ll be facing a really difficult time in the wake of Hurricane Florence, which is already impacting the affordable housing crisis that our community already faces … with so many homes being lost, so many folks losing everything,” Geist said.
On average it costs Good Shepherd $3,000 to re-house an individual, Geist said. The scale of the crisis, for now, is unknown.
“We are preparing to be at capacity around the clock (in the coming weeks and months),” Geist said. “We’re still picking ourselves up and dusting off and looking around to see, wow, what are we facing here?”
An after-party will be held at the Palm Room starting at 9 p.m. with performances by Massive Grass, Medjool Datez, Tanbridge, and Ethan Driskill.
Event organizers are asking attendees to arrive via ride-share vehicles and taxis as parking at both locations is limited.
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