Enjoying music for a good cause is what a group of Westminster College students hope to provide to those who come to their charity concert Saturday.
The rock, R&B and rap concert will benefit the Callaway County United Way. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Westminster's Champ Auditorium and features Fulton artists Chris Corvino and Without Witness, alongside Westminster performers A Game and DUB_G.
Chris Corvino has lived in Fulton his whole life and has been pursuing music since his graduation from high school in 2002.
Lavish, an artist out of Columbia and a long-time collaborator of Corvino's, will also be performing at the event.
"When I want somebody to rap on one of my songs, he's usually the first one I contact. He's very creative and he's got the same love and passion for music that I do," Corvino said. "Every time we've made a track together it's turned out pretty well."
Corvino researched the organizations that receive money from the Callaway County United Way and was familiar with them as valuable institutions in his community.
"I contacted the United Way and told them I wanted to put on a concert here in Fulton. I wanted to do a good show here in town and donate ticket sales to them. I know that the money given to the United Way goes directly back to the community," Corvino said.
Cathi Harris, president of the board of directors for the Callaway County United Way, said the money raised by the concert will go into the general allocation fund.
"The agencies we are funding currently are American Red Cross of Callaway County, Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland, Boy Scouts of America Great Rivers Council, Callaway County 4-H, Callaway County Senior Center, CARDV, Family Counseling Center of Missouri, Homemaker Health Care, Kingdom Projects, Mid-Missouri Legal Services, SERVE, Callaway County YMCA and Our House-Caring for Callaway's Homeless," Harris said.
Corvino's interest in performing to benefit the United Way coincided with a group of Westminster students whose final project was to organize and execute an event.
Nikki Giesler has instructed the Events Management and Leadership class at Westminster for three years.
"Their final grade in the class is to put on a event. It's a service leadership class, so it has to be something to raise money for an organization," Giesler said.
While she has been teaching the class for three years, this is the first year that the final project has been introduced into the curriculum.
"We spend the entire semester learning how to program and plan events. I'm all about hands-on learning, so it just makes sense to make it a part of a service learning class," Giesler said.
The United Way's annual fundraising typically ends in February, but the organization is about $12,000 short of the $260,000 goal.
"We have a great relationship with Westminster College. We've got an amazing energy around philanthropy, and we have some very active students on the board," Harris said.
"I'm really hoping it goes well for the United Way. I'm hoping this is something we can continue in the future, the collaboration between my class and United Way," Giesler said.
Tickets are $5 in advance or $6 at the door. Tickets may be purchased at The Callaway Bank - Main, South and Mokane locations, the Westminster College student life office, or the William Woods University cashier's window.
Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.