Jenna Quinn and Amelia Somers perform at Harmony: A Charity Concert for Change in Rotary Park earlier this month. Photo by Jason Gloor
BY DONNA MACKENZIE
For the second year in a row, a student-conceived and student-led concert in Honeoye Falls raised funds for a charitable organization.
Harmony: A Charity Concert for Change was held on Saturday, August 9 at Rotary Park. This year, the charity chosen was UNICEF to benefit children affected by the Israel-Palestine war and organizers were hoping to raise around $1,000. There was no cost for the concert; the money raised came through free-will donations.
“Three friends, Kaylee Henshaw, Taber Gloor and Kate Gabrielsen and I separately all came up with similar ideas last year for a concert and we decided to collaborate together to make it happen,” said Mikey Ruff during a phone interview recently. “Last year, we were able to raise over $1,300 for the Save the Children Foundation to benefit the children affected by the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We were looking for a charity we trusted and that had name recognition and a worthy cause. It was nice because people didn’t know what was happening in Congo and we helped educate people about the crisis which is still ongoing. “
The organizers changed the charity to UNICEF this year to help children affected by the Israel-Palestine conflict.
“This conflict is more well-known but many people still don’t know how to help the children and we decided that this would be an easy and trustworthy way to do so,” Ruff said. “UNICEF is well-known for its work and is one of the top organizations providing medical care and food to the children and people in Palestine.”
While the 2024 concert was held at Harry Allen Park, construction work on a new gazebo and other improvements at Harry Allen Park necessitated the change in venue to Rotary Park for the 2025 concert. Both drew pretty good attendance numbers.
The performances both years were a showcase of local artists, many of them high school students or HF-L graduates. Unfortunately due to scheduling conflicts, some of last year’s performers were unable to return this year so Ruff said that organizers will try to schedule next year’s concert better. Last year’s concert featured around six performers and this year, there were seven. Two HF-L Class of 2025 graduates, Jenna Quinn and Amelia Somers, performed again this year. Dr. Ken Kreuzer, an instrumental music teacher at the high school also came back this year. Other performers were Gabrielsen, CJ Tomaszewski and Bernard Tomaszewski, Raegan Banker, Alli Evans and Casey Howe from Brighton whom Ruff met through the Rochester Broadway Theater League’s Stars of Tomorrow NYC Bound competition.
“The concerts serve a dual purpose,” Ruff said. “We wanted to help youth because many kids affected by these situations are kids like us; the same age as us. In any conflict, no matter where it is, children are innocent; they did not start them but they are the ones most heavily affected by them. I’d like to thank Kate, Taber and Kaylee as I could not have done this without them the past two years.”
