The BYU–Hawaii Music Student Association hosted an evening of rock music at Kahuku Grill to raise money for Jessie’s Place Rwanda, a humanitarian non-profit organization providing assistance to children and adults with extreme mental and physical challenges in Rwanda, Africa. The concert took place on February 20, 2016.
Trevor Holloway, an undeclared freshman from California and president of the Music Student Association, said the association presidency wanted to host a service project that exemplified music club, and so a benefit concert seemed to be the perfect solution.
“Jessie’s Place is a good foundation,” said Holloway. “The genocide in Rwanda was in the 90s, but there are people still suffering from it. It’s good to help the rising generation out there.”
The night featured music groups THT: The Trevor Holloway Trio, Sparkle Motion, Dark Chicken, Dirty Bubs & the Boys, and other solo artists. The bands had the crowd on their feet and dancing to the music. The headlining band THT performed three encores before wrapping up for the night.
Holloway took time between acts to turn the audience’s attention towards the situation in Rwanda and ask them to donate $3 each to the fund.
Presidency members Alexi Gonzalez and Emily Long suggested raising funds for Jessie’s Place. Their friend, Michael Smith, a non-student from Haleiwa, had a personal connection to Jessie’s Place. His grandmother, Jessica McCall, founded the non-profit in 1990 to serve the Los Angeles area. Later, she expanded her work to Mexico.
In 2005, she founded the Ubumwe Community Center in Rwanda, a center that inspires unity and hope for the handicapped and genocide survivors.
In 2014, McCall moved to Rwanda full time at 78 years of age to live with the orphans and others being served by the center.
Smith coordinated with Gonzalez, Long, and Holloway to set up the benefit concert at Kahuku Grill, showcasing their new outdoor stage. “Max Hanneman is in my entrepreneurship class,” said Holloway. “I approached him and asked if we could do it at Seven Brothers, but he said that they had built a new stage at Kahuku Grill and that it would be a perfect spot.”
Smith received an email from McCall and Linda Romano, the Executive Director of Jessie’s Place, thanking the group for the event.
“All of us at Jessie's Place want to express our deep appreciation for the kindness of yourself and the Music [Student Association] of BYU–Hawaii in raising awareness of Jessie's Place Rwanda and having a fundraiser for our benefit… Since our non profit is operating here in the US with volunteers, all the money from donations are sent directly to Jessie's Place to further the work being done at the center.”
According to Holloway, the Rwandan Civil War began in 1990. Before the end of the war in 1994, the killings spiked, resulting in the slaughter of 500,000-1,000,000 people. 22 years later, the aftereffects can still be felt in Rwanda and in its neighboring countries.
To learn more about Jessie’s Place and its assistance of genocide survivors in Rwanda, please visit www.jessiesplacerwanda.org/.