Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Music for Mankind
Musician Kelly Moore has been an avid supporter of Friends of the World Food Program and an advocate for the world’s hungry poor for several years. In March 2010, Kelly and his band performed in Vermont, and made the concert available via webcast for supporters across the country. Friends of WFP served as one the beneficiaries of the concert. The following are excerpts from an interview I had with Kelly Moore, about his work and commitment to ending global hunger. Read on…
Margot Hoerrner (Vice President of Outreach and Education, Friends of WFP): How did you first hear about the United Nations World Food Program (WFP)?
Kelly Moore: I have been an active supporter of Prem Rawat and his foundation for years, which works to promote peace and support humanitarian causes around the world. In about 2005, there was an article in the Prem Rawat Foundation newsletter, discussing the work of the World Food Program and the issue of global hunger. The Prem Rawat Foundation had supported WFP in their disaster relief efforts with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and has continued to provide assistance to WFP’s ongoing hunger relief efforts.MH: What was it about that article, or the issue of global hunger, that made you want to get involved?
KM: 2005 was an important year for me. I had a number of things going on in my life both personally and professionally as a musician which prompted me to start thinking more about impact.
I had been playing both as a solo musician and with a band, performing at venues all over New England, and had started selecting additional venues such as prisons, hospitals, and schools… it was with these audiences that I started to see how grateful people were to have live music come to them.
This made me start thinking about how I could leverage my music to create change around the issues I care about, and have a bigger impact. I decided to start Music for Mankind - a series of benefit concerts through which a portion of the proceeds are contributed to the Friends of the World Food Program and other national, regional, and local charities to support hunger and poverty alleviation strategies.
MH: Tell me about your concert which took place in March in Vermont.
KM: We hadn’t had a local concert in awhile, so we arranged to have an intimate performance at Al Ducci’s - a gourmet food venue in Manchester, Vermont – with simultaneous live webcast, so our fans around the country could join us as well. We decided to use the concert as a fundraising event for both Friends of the World Food Program, and the Manchester Community Food Cupboard, which is a local hunger alleviation organization.
Al Ducci’s donated the space, and the Greater Manchester Arts Council supported the event – and it was a full house! We played for about an hour, and throughout the performance, I spoke about my travels to visit WFP programs on the ground in Nicaragua and Peru. So many people came up to me afterward, expressing thanks for raising awareness about the issue of global hunger, and told me that, through my words and the images that I shared, they felt that they had traveled to the field with me. MH: How would you describe your music?
KM: (laughs) How would I describe my music… Well, it’s acoustic, folk, pop, rock and Celtic all rolled into one. My band – Emerald Dreams – has two vocalists, a violin, flute and piccolo, double bass and guitar.
MH: With all of the issues out there that you could support, why did you choose to support global hunger alleviation?
KM: The bottom line is that people have to eat. Without food, you don’t have life. You don’t have dignity or prosperity. Without food you’re unable to experience peace in the world, or with yourself. If we’re able to first address hunger, so many other challenges will be resolved as well.
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Margot Hoerrner
Vice President of Outreach and Education
Friends of the World Food Program
