The Bluegrass and Beyond

There’s a new effort to encourage young people to volunteer for Central Kentucky non-profit organizations — and it rocks.

The 10,000 Hours Show plans to have a major band play a concert next April at Applebee’s Park. The only way to attend will be to sign up and do at least 10 hours of community service between now and then.

Plans for the concert began several months ago as a service project of this year’s Leadership Lexington class, said class member Colleen Ebbitt. The goal is to generate at least 10,000 hours of service by at least 1,000 volunteers.

“It will be an all-ages show,” Ebbitt said. “All ages can volunteer and attend, but the music will be geared toward the 18-30 age group.”

During last week’s Commerce Lexington visit to Madison, Wis., the 260 attendees heard that Madison’s United Way sponsors a similar event. Last year, those who attended Madison’s concert had logged 38,674 hours of community service.

The event is being coordinated — and volunteer hours are being tracked — by the United Way of the Bluegrass.The presenting sponsor is W. Rogers Co. Applebee’s Park is providing the venue. Show partners include: University of Kentucky FUSION, Leadership Lexington, Georgetown College and Eastern Kentucky University.  Ebbitt said organizers are looking for additional sponsors, including a co-presenting sponsor.

Ebbitt said it may be January before a headline band is chosen because it will be late this year before many bands have firmed their tour schedules. Artists that have done these shows in other cities include Cake, Ben Folds and Guster. Ebbitt said organizers hope to get a band of that caliber.

To sign up for the 10,000 Hours Show volunteer effort, or for more information, go to the Web site.

This entry was posted on May 27, 2009 at 10:31 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.