Midcoast musicians to hold benefit concert for clean drinking water in Puerto Rico

Mon, 11/13/2017 - 10:45pm

    ROCKLAND – A who's who of Maine folk musicians will join forces Saturday, November 18, in a benefit concert forf Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which left much of the island without access to safe drinking water. The concert will be held in the sanctuary of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 11 White St., in Rockland. Suggested donation is $15 (or more) at the door, with all proceeds going to the Puerto Rico relief efforts of Waves for Water, Inc. (W4W), a nonprofit that works around the world to provide clean water in remote locations affected by natural disasters.

    The performers, all of whom are volunteering their time, include Nick Apollonio, Gordon Bok, Will Brown, David Dodson and Mary Kate Small, Sara Grey, Jim Loney, Kendall and Jacqui Morse, Riki Schneyer, Steelin' Thunder, Bob Stuart and Megan Rogers, and Kathy Westra and George Stephens.

    The concert is the brainchild of Rockland residents Sara Grey and her husband Dave MacLurg, who enlisted many friends in the folk music community as volunteer performers. Their desire to find a nonprofit beneficiary led them to Waves for Water, Inc., a charity with staff on the ground in Puerto Rico working to:

    · Mitigate immediate suffering by providing portable water filtration systems in communities living at or below the poverty line. These are under-served communities that are the least equipped to handle a catastrophe like Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

    · Address breakdowns in water infrastructure by creating large and centrally-located water depots—big systems that can serve entire communities.

    · Design and implement long-term solutions—such as rainwater harvesting systems, borehole wells, and/or desalinization systems—to change the way water is accessed for years to come.

    For more information, contact Sara Grey and Dave MacLurg at 593-8612, or Kathy Westra and George Stephens at 593-8068. Special thanks to St. Peter's for providing the concert venue.