Concert Featuring Yale A Cappella Groups To Benefit Neighbors In Need of Basics

Published: October 30, 2009

New Haven, Conn. — Yale and the United Way of Greater New Haven will co-sponsor a concert on Sunday, Nov. 8, to benefit "Neighbor2Neighbor," a community-based campaign to raise money for organizations in the local area that provide food, shelter and other basic services to community members facing economic challenges.

The concert, titled "One Community, One Voice," will feature Yale a cappella groups, which have organized the event. It will take place 4-5:30 p.m. in Battell Chapel, corner of Elm and College streets. Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and will be available at the door. Children under age 12 accompanied by an adult are admitted free.

All ticketholders will be eligible for a drawing for the prize of a gift certificate for dinner for two at the Union League Café.

The "One Community, One Voice" concert is an opportunity for Yale affiliates to help the growing numbers of families in the area who are facing financial challenges and are unable to afford housing, food and fuel, say Yale-United Way Campaign co-chairs Ernst Huff and Cynthia Walker. The "Neighbor2Neighbor" drive is co-coordinated by the United Way of Greater New Haven and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven.

Huff and Walker are also encouraging Yale staff members and students to join in the cause to collect half a million diapers for The Diaper Bank, a United Way-supported organization that supplies free diapers to low-income families in the Greater New Haven area. To learn more about the drive or where to find a public drop-off site, visit http://www.uwgnh.org/volunteer/healthy-baby-diaper-drive.

Faculty, staff and students are hoping to raise $1 million in this year's Yale-United Way Campaign, which was launched earlier this month. Huff and Walker reported in a recent letter to Yale employees that the campaign is "off to a good start, with the pace of giving just ahead of last year at the same time."

All donations are invested locally, they point out in their letter, adding, "As we face our own concerns about what the future might hold, please remember those who are even more vulnerable right now."

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