Two weeks ago Brent Stephens, a local realtor and musician, reached out to Bulloch VOAD with the idea of hosting a virtual concert and donating all of his tips to VOAD and their partner agencies.
Two weeks ago Brent Stephens, a local realtor and musician, reached out to Bulloch VOAD with the idea of hosting a virtual concert and donating all of his tips to VOAD and their partner agencies. Brent explained that he had come up with this idea after seeing some fellow musicians do this after the tornadoes tore through Nashville, Tennessee. His friend had raised $1,500 which he gave to workers in the service industry. He went to Facebook and shared this idea and polled his friends for ideas on a non-profit that was doing a good bit in the community to help our citizens get through the COVID-19 Crisis. Overwhelmingly, Bulloch VOAD was the agency recommended.
Brent then reached out to DeWayne Grice and shared his idea. They agreed and set the date for the concert, which was Saturday, March 21st. Brent hoped to play for an hour and raise a few hundred dollars for the cause.
The concert began at 9 pm and the community loved it. “It was so much fun seeing all the shares, comments and views on the Facebook live concert. Viewers would request songs through comments and then tip me virtually for playing their song. I played for two and half hours. It was a blast and we raised a heck of a lot of money for a great cause to boot.”said Brent Stephens.
Brent’s concert was shared 89 times, had 556 comments and over 7.5 thousand views. He raised $3,274.
Al Chapman, Owner of Gnats, Blue Room and Del Sur, where Brent plays often was so inspired by Brent’s concert that he raised another $1,600 for the cause. The combined total is $4,874.
Bulloch VOAD has directed these funds to the
Statesboro YMCA to cover childcare for Healthcare or Public Safety heroes on the front lines for our community. Preference is given to single moms.
The YMCA can accommodate 50 children in their day camps which are exclusively for healthcare and public safety employees.
“The generosity of strangers is what makes this so incredible. We have been working for weeks to prepare and educate our community on COVID-19. We have accomplished a tremendous amount, but there is so much left to do in the weeks and months to come. The best way to get through this is by neighbor helping neighbor, stranger helping stranger,”said DeWayne Grice, Bulloch VOAD. “Together we will get through this and our community will be stronger than when we entered it. Thank you is simply not enough for what Brent did for our community. It was an awesome night of fun, but more importantly he helped bring attention to Bulloch VOAD and served as the catalysis for so many other random acts of kindness throughout the week.”
Brent and DeWayne want to thank everyone who joined in and contributed.
If you missed Brent’s concern we have included it here for you to enjoy.
