Concert For Africa
The benefit concert held in Pittsburgh in support of the COE Hub in Togo, West Africa was a great success! More than 60 people attended the event that took place on the 26th of February 2011. The music concert was organized by Michael F. Dodin, COE Hub Leader in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Benjamin Saalbach-Walsh in support of Samuel Ayivi and his friends, who were hospitalized after a recent car accident. The $500 USD raised during the event will go towards paying their medical bills and replacing some musical instruments that got damaged during the crash.
The audience enjoyed diverse music ranging from punk, funk and blues to music with Appalachian, Scandinavian, Middle Eastern and classical Indian influences. Leaders and loving people from many walks of life were also invited to speak at the event and to celebrate helping one another! Among the speakers present was Juliette, a young woman from Uganda, who spoke on behalf of the project “Imagine No Malaria”. Kevin May spoke about a project which recognizes Pittsburgh as an important transitional area connected with the Mayan prophecy. Eric Belcastro shared his views on the drilling and fracking that is going on in the USA, especially in Pittsburgh, and how it is devastating the environment. He encouraged the audience to be aware of their rights and to join in the good fight of taking care of our environment. Lucy Stiegerwald represented LINK (Liberation in North Korea) and asked people to join her at a local college for a public screening of a documentary on the appalling human rights situation in North Korea.
Michael also had the opportunity to speak several times, at which time he introduced the inspiring work of COE and invited people to participate at the COE Hub gatherings in Pennsylvania, where young people come together to share information about their spiritual experiences, study the overlap of science and spirituality, learn from one another and become active in Living and Thinking!
Michael’s initiative is a great example and an inspiration to all of us. He combined the two things that he cherishes most, namely music and spirituality, and put it into action to support others in their time of great need.