This past Saturday night, Trinity students and the San Antonio community came out to see performers Casey Donahew Band and Aaron Einhouse Band at the 9th annual Concert for the Cure. This event is put on by the Gamma Chi Delta sorority as their main philanthropic event of the year.
“The concert benefits Camp Discovery. It’s a kid’s summer camp in Kerrville, Texas, and is for kids who have or are in remission from cancer. Kids are anywhere from 7-16 years old. It costs about $1000 to send a kid to camp, and so they get to go to this camp for free with our donation. Since our founding year, we’ve donated over $125,000,” said Kimi Siu, a junior and event chair.
The Concert for the Cure Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is made up of all Trinity graduates and Gamma Chi Delta alumni. The the founder of the organization went the the camp as a kid. Concert for the Cure strives to raise more money every year and has been successful so far because of the backing of other Trinity organizations and the student body.
“Since we live so close to Kerrville, about 45 minutes away, it kind of connects the community to Camp Discovery as well. They’re always asking for volunteers and people can go help out there,” Siu said.
Those in charge of marketing reached out primarily on social media platforms Facebook and Twitter.
“It’s been a transition year for us because last year we weren’t really allowed to advertise for it because it is a Gamma associated event. Last year we could only really advertise the week before. Since Concert for the Cure is a completely separate nonprofit that was started by Gammas, Trinity allowed us to do that event because it brought in so much revenue for Camp Discovery,” said Leslie Green, senior and member of Gamma Chi Delta.
The group has also been setting its sights on involving the rest of the San Antonio community. The sorority took steps to increase attendance by advertising at a San Antonio Rampage game. The San Antonio community typically makes up most of the crowd that attends the concert.
“At the end of the day we just need bodies and it means so much to us to see other organizations support us. It means so much,” Green said.
Despite the cold weather, many people came out and showed their support for Concert for the Cure. The money raised from the concert and the number of people in attendance is still unknown.
“We were told that the line was around the building. I think there were a lot more people than last year because more people knew about it and we were allowed to talk about it,” said Green.
For the time being, that is the best measure of success they can rely on.
Senior Jean Larkin said that Concert for the Cure is far more than a philanthropy event for the Gammas.
“Concert for the Cure is such a phenomenal event,” Larkin said. “It has become an important community event. It supports an amazing cause and is a great way to bring Trinity and the greater San Antonio community together in a traditionally Texan cultural event.”
