Better World benefit for Haiti a success

Michael D’Onofrio, Staff Writer
If you happened to be walking near the Women’s Club on Saturday, you would have heard the sound of music flowing out of
its doors into the mild winter evening. The Club continued its efforts to fundraise for the Haitian earthquake victims by turning its auditorium into a concert hall that night for an event unlike any done in the past: Bands for a Better World.
The concert featured jazz and rock music by local students of Glen Ridge High School. Seven bands played during the three-hour event in front a crowded, standing room of students and parents in the Club’s Williamsberg Room.
What set this event apart from what the Club has done in the past was not merely that the Club opened its doors to a student concert, but that it was completely student organized.
The planning of the event was placed into the hands of five upperclassman at the high school: Lily Mastrodimos, Nick Potters, Thayer Mukherjee, Evan Fredriksen and Arkin Agarwal.
“This is the first time the Women’s Club had done anything like this,” said Anita Agarwal, a long time member of the Club. “The parents have really let the students take over this event, and I think everyone at the Club likes what they see.”
“This event is fantastic,” said Cynthia Herrera, who sang that night in her band, Purple Steed. “It is the first time something like this has been put on in this town. The venue is perfect.”
“It’s a great way to get all of these local bands together and play,” said Emmalee Meing, who is a student at the high school and was taking photos that night for the bands. “These are some of the most talented people I know.”
“It’s a really good turnout,” said Mukherjee, who played in two of bands that evening, BAM! and the New Renaissance. “The Women’s Club did a great job setting up,
and the whole event has really exceeded my expectations.”
All proceeds collected that night were donated to the Lamp for Haiti Foundation. The Lamp is an apolitical and humanitarian organization founded in 2005 by Dr. James Morgan and attorney Thomas Griffin. In 2006, the Lamp established a clinic in Cite Soleil, which they say is one of the most indigent and worst slums in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince.
Their purpose is to provide free medical care, legal assistance, water and food for the people of Haiti. In 2009 alone, the clinic treated approximately 10,000 patients.
Although the clinic sustained substantial damage from the earthquake, it is still standing and operational.

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