Volunteer UCF showed that you can have fun and help save the world at the same time with their Rock for Hunger Showcase on Friday, at the AKA Lounge in Downtown Orlando.
"[Rock for Hunger] combines two things, something that we all love and something that we all should be doing -music and charity," Faraaz Merchant, Alternative Spring Break director, said.
This time around, proceeds from the concert were given to the First Vagabond Church of God, which is currently working on building a new church that will also act as a homeless shelter.
With the aid of Volunteer UCF, Rev. Brian Nichols, the pastor of the First Vagabond Church of God, plans to build a church focused on helping the homeless. The plans for the church include housing for about 40 people and hosting of services and daily feedings to the homeless.
About 150 people attended the event. After accounting for production costs, about $500 was raised to build the new church. The success of the event was due in part to the generous donation of $100 by Liberty Investment Properties.
Chris Goyzueta, director of Hunger and Homelessness, first had the idea for Rock for Hunger a year ago. "I wanted to find something like the Hunger Banquet, but step it up, so I created Rock for Hunger."
The event is a charity concert that showcases local bands. The concerts' purpose is to raise money for a variety of charities in the Orlando area.
This year, bands such as Vision Quest from Orlando, 44 Down from Lake County and Feedback from Jacksonville, were hired to perform on Friday night. Volunteer UCF was also able to book Stumpp, the 2006-2007 UCF band of the year.
The idea for the concert is to "keep it going," Goyzueta said. Along with an annual music fest - planned for November of this year - there are plans to have weekly feedings of the homeless and monthly mini concerts, "and then every six to eight weeks have bigger concerts," says Goyzueta. Each event will help a different charity, so that help can be given to as many people as possible.
For now, Goyzueta is working on establishing Rock for Hunger as a non-profit organization. He also wants to expand it to make weekly feedings and collections for the various charities. Finally, he plans on having more concerts.
There are big expectations for future events. "Larger crowds, better artists and more awareness about hunger and homelessness," Christie Espiritu, assistant student director of Volunteer UCF, hopes for the future of Rock for Hunger.
The next concert is scheduled for Tuesday, April 3, at the Backbooth in Orlando.
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