Inter-Faith Concert to Benefit South Brunswick's Less Fortunate

With the need among the less fortunate in South Brunswick continuing to grow, the township's religious community will come together next week with a musical extravaganza for a good cause.

The Musical Angels, a conglomeration of Jewish, Christian and Islamic leaders in South Brunswick is holding it’s second annual concert on Tuesday, June 12 to raise funds for the South Brunswick Food Pantry.

"We started this concert last year and invited different people to perform, along with our 'Sons of Tikvah Band.' We're calling it Musical Angels with members of different houses of worship participating,” said Cantor Bruce Rockman.

In addition to Rockman and the "Sons of Tikhah Band," there will also be performances by Rev. Kim Carlson and the Christ the King choir, Peter Reimann of the Presbyterian Church of Sand Hills, the Crossroads South Middle School jazz band, and students from the Noor-Ul-Iman school.

"This is a really cool cross-religious event," Rockman said. "The idea is to foster unity. We like to run events that involve the secular and religious community to raise consciousness."

While the concert is free, attendees are asked to bring either a monetary or food donation for the South Brunswick Food Pantry. The event comes at a time when need continues to grow among the township's less fortunate.

"We saw 58 families last month. Each month we're seeing anywhere from two to six new families, in addition to the people who are coming back," said Social Services Director LouAnne Wolf. "People can't get jobs. It's really very scary. There are a lot of single parent homes, so I hope everyone comes out and supports this cause. It's a fun night in the middle of the week to come out and listen to some great music."

The pantry is currently in need of healthy snack food, coffee and tea.

"Our band is about making people happy but this brings more purpose to what we do," Rockman said. "The food bank is a great need in our community. We came up with the name 'People Are Hungry Everyday' because it's graduation season and people are very busy and involved, but there are also people out there who are going hungry, so let's do our little thing here. It's also about community unity. I think we get to understand each other better when we spend time together in each other's houses of worship."

The concert will be held on Tuesday, June 12, at 8 p.m. at Congregation B'Nai Tikvah, 1001 Finnegans Lane in North Brunswick. Please bring a monetary or food donation for the South Brunswick Food Pantry. For more information about how you can help the pantry call 732-329-4000 ext. 7674.