FARMINGDALE, NY — Will Sing for Food, a musical group that performs charity concerts to fight food insecurity, helped raise more than $42K for Long Island Cares and its Harry Chapin Food Bank at a benefit concert in Farmingdale held Sunday, a Long Island Cares spokesman said.
The concert was held at The Nutty Irishman, a bar at 313 Main Street.
Paule Pachter, CEO of Long Island Cares, said the show was “very successful.”
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“The staff at the Nutty Irishman were excellent hosts and with nearly 200 people attending the concert, we provided something for everyone to enjoy,” Pachter said.
Will Sing For Food has been performing annual concerts to benefit Long Island Cares for the past six years and has raised more than $200K for the food bank to date, according to Pachter.
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“They are a great partner in feeding the food insecure,” he said.
The band raised $21,542 which will then be matched by a “generous donor,” The Jeanine Heller Foundation, bringing the grand total to more than $43K, said Andrew Morreale, the band’s co-creative director and guitarist/mandolinist
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“It was an amazing night of music!” Morreale said. “We played to a packed house of over 200 supporters who danced, sang along and filled our guitar case with cash. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful group of talented musicians who volunteer their time for a great cause!”
Will Sing For Food performs a mix of rock, pop, country, jazz, and blue grass, blending a lineup of obscure music with popular favorites that people can sing along to.
Morreale is joined by Melissa Ryan, his “partner in crime,” Music Director Billy Lucano, and his daughter, Anna Belanger, the group’s assistant creative director.
Kaylin Peterson, the philanthropy manager at Long Island Cares, said she was “extremely impressed” by the funding that Will Sing For Food brought in.
“The community was very generous, many people paid with large bills and requested no change back,” Peterson said. “They were happy to give to such a ‘great organization.'”
Attendees included friends and family of Will Sing For Food, volunteers and staff of Long Island Cares, and community members, Peterson said.
“We are honored to be the recipients of such a thoughtful gift — a lot of time and practice goes into putting an event like this on, and we are grateful for every minute of it,” she said.
Patch has partnered with Feeding America since 2020 to help raise awareness in our local communities of hunger, a persistent national problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Feeding America, which supports 200 food banks and 60,000 local meals programs across the country, estimates that nearly 34 million people, including 9 million children — about 1 in 6 Americans — are living with food insecurity. This is a Patch social good project; Feeding America receives 100 percent of donations. Find out how you can donate in your community or find a food pantry near you.
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