KIDS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Talk about kids these days: High-schoolers Emily Gelber, Hunter Hunt and Chiara Essig organize a concert to benefit the homeless in Hawaii
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While most high school upperclassmen spend their time planning for prom, applying for college or fighting their parents for a later curfew, a group of Punahou School students have raised $26,900 for a homeless shelter in Honolulu - and they plan to raise even more.
With a motto of “Kids can make a difference,” co-chairs Chiara Essig, Emily Gelber and Hunter Hunt have been spending the better part of their school year organizing, holding auditions and networking with other schools to put on a concert and silent auction to benefit the Institute for Human Services (IHS). The organization provides food and shelter for homeless men, women and children at two separate shelters.
Eight bands from six different high schools will come together this Sunday, April 6, at Saint Louis School’s Mamiya Theater for a concert and silent auction. All the proceeds from both events - after an overhead of about $5,000 is paid for use of the hall and other expenses - will go to IHS. The schools involved are Iolani, St. Louis, Kalaheo High School, La Pietra, Kapolei and Punahou.
“The homelessness problem in Hawaii is growing,” says Gelber, a 17-year-old senior setting her sights on the Mainland for college.
Hunt, a junior, continues, “It’s been a theme for us not just at school, but also it’s something we thought would raise awareness.” He adds that they were familiar with IHS from last year’s event and were comfortable with the way they worked.
IHS executive director Connie Mitchel said her organization was chosen by the students because they understand the children in homeless situations have less in their lives.
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“The students who are doing (the concert) this year have probably seen firsthand how homelessness in urban Honolulu continues to be a problem and know that we need the extra support,” she says.
Both Essig and Gelber had been to the shelter recently. “It’s a little hard to watch when you first get there,” says Essig, a Stanford University-bound senior. “I felt good, though, that the money we were raising was going to help them.”
Even though he hasn’t been to the shelter yet, Hunt says he hopes the money raised at the event will help the shelter perform its basic functions. “We want (the shelter) to use it effectively,” he says. “We want it to trickle down and get people fed, and just basically fund what IHS does on a ground level.”
Aside from the size of the event and the massive amounts of money these high schoolers have been able to collect, there is one element to this whole concert that is truly amazing: They are doing this almost completely by themselves.
Essig acknowledges the importance of several faculty members at Punahou who have helped them with writing letters and other technical tasks, but when asked if there was a teacher who was leading them through the process, the general impression was they didn’t need one.
“They are incredibly self-sufficient,” says Michael Judge, an academy science teacher at Punahou and the event’s technical and musical adviser. “They really, effectively don’t need me (he laughs), which is cool because it allows me to come in and say, ‘What do you need help with,‘or give them any kind of direction - but they’re really self-sufficient.”
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So far the committee and co-chairs have managed to raise the funds working from a donor list of about 100 people. Donors include individuals and companies that gave anywhere from $100 to $5,000 making this the most the 4-year-old program has ever earned before a concert.
All the bands participating in the concert had to go through a tryout in which they either performed in person or sent in a tape. “We were very impressed by some of the auditions that people sent in, ” says Hunt. The group also says they were trying hard not to feature a lot of bands from Punahou to create more diversity in the concert and to give everybody a chance.
And as far as the cause is concerned, the performers were happy to oblige by lending their musical talents for the concert. Plus it’s good exposure for many of these garage bands.
“I think there’s going to be a lot
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