With 1,962 homeless people in Orange County and with a total of 59,036 homeless people in the state, according to the 2007-08 Annual Report on Homelessness Conditions in Florida, there are those willing to rock for hunger.
Twenty-eight bands performed from 2 p.m. to midnight on Saturday at the Plaza Theater for Rock for Hunger Fest 3, a benefit concert to raise money for the non-profit organization Rock for Hunger, which was founded by UCF alumnus Chris Goyzueta.
The organization began with its first benefit concert in the Pegasus Ballroom in 2005 and grew to a group that provides tutoring for children from low income families in the Parramore District, offers job training in the downtown library and feeds the homeless on Mondays at Lake Eola.
Last year, the concert raised more than $9,000 at the BackBooth bar and music venue. This year, the organization exceeded that amount and covered its expenses by 6 p.m. An official count will be reached by Tuesday. Advanced tickets sold for $10, and tickets at the door were $20.
"It took a lot of hard work, great persistency and a great team working behind me this year," Goyzueta said. "We are hoping to build a lot of new programs this year. We're trying to build a shelter with the homeless. You always focused on food clothing, shelter and basic needs, and you lose focus on their dreams.
"We're looking to opening a facility where they can fulfill their dreams again, learn how to start a business, learn how to manage their finances, learn how to play music, learn how to [create] art, get their minds away from the routine and get them back on their feet through a positive environment."
The group also hopes to build a scholarship program and a fieldtrip program for the children it tutors in the Parramore District.
Featured artists included Kardinal Offishall, breaking off from his national tour to perform for the benefit, Junkie Rush, Passafire, Union Made, Johnny Plastic and the Rubber Band, Chris Burns, Social Ghost, and Black Ship Sky.
"[Rock for Hunger] really makes a difference it's about giving back and helping," Mary Cay Manning said. Manning vended her custom-made designer jewelry at the concert.
"I'm unemployed. This is how I supplement my income now, and I'm a single parent," Manning said. "I'm at the point now where I have been in outsides sales my whole life, and it's very frustrating when the economy and letting sales people go, I want to start my own thing. I don't want to rely on a company. You just have to be creative."
In January, the group plans to establish a monthly newspaper, Talk4Hunger. It will be sold for $1 each to benefit the organization, and its first issue was distributed with ticket sales and featured updates on the group's activities and commentary from active members.
"The gratitude of these people, the forgotten people too often denigrated and dismissed by our society, was amazing as were my own feelings of identity and self resulting from helping others," Rock for Hunger board member and UCF student Ben Bergholtz wrote. "… I owe these people the real thank you; by helping them, I've helped myself find a purpose in life."
Be the first to comment on this article!