North Kingstown Open Mic Event To Support Blessings in a Backpack

For the past two school years, I have been honored to run a local musical event here in North Kingstown. The event is called "The NK Teen Musician Open Mic Night" and we invite students from North Kingstown School Department schools to come out and play guitar or sing or play in a group. This is a free event to participate in and is my way of helping to showcase these immensely musically gifted North Kingstown teens (and pre-teens). And for the past two years, we have set up a donation table for fans of the NK Teen Musicians, of which we then donate to a local charity. To date, we have worked with Special Olympics of North Kingstown, Pennies for Patients, and Let's Read RI.

And this summer, for 4 shows during the very popular Wickford Harbor Lights, the teens will be playing and raising money for another local charity - Blessings in a Backpack. According to the official website of this charity, www.blessingsinabackpack.org, "There are more than 13.1 -million children in this country who are at risk of hunger. The consequences of hunger are much more than a growling stomach. Poor nutrition can result in a weaker immune system, increased hospitalization, lower IQ, shorter attention spans, and lower academic achievement. Children are fed during the school week by federal government programs, but we want to make sure they’re getting nutritional meals over the weekend, too.
Blessings in a Backpack is a 501 C (3) non-profit organization currently feeding over 87,300 children in nearly 1,092 schools in 45 U.S. states and the District of Columbia."

I recently met with Cindy Bowe, who is the North Kingstown School Department coordinator of Blessings in a Backpack - NK. She mentioned that this chapter of Blessing in a Backpack was started a few years ago out of Davisville School and has a very rewarding experience. Currently, the program services more than 150 students in the North Kingstown School Department. The program's financial support through individual and corporate donations supplies food for students in need of assistance with their food budget. Approximately $100 feeds a student for the 38 weekends of the NKSD School Year. On Fridays, the program will send home (with the student) two snacks, two main meals, and two breakfast items for the weekend. The goal - to show improvement in school attendance, test scores, overall behavior, and overall health of the student. What an amazing program this Blessings in a Backpack is!!!

So, if you would like to donate to this program in North Kingstown and hear some amazingly talented North Kingstown Teen Musicians, come to our Open Mic Events. Our teens play at "The Anchor" which is the back of the main parking lot in Wickford Village. The talented NK Teens Open Mic Night is part of the Wickford Harbor Lights Special. We will have a (change, dollars) donation table set up and our goal is to set up a food donation table by the July show. We just had our first successful night in May and our upcoming schedule is as follows:

• Friday June 22nd at 7pm
• Friday July 27th at 7pm
• Friday August 17th at 7pm

For more information on this event, feel free to email me, Noel P. Roby, at thenkmarketing@gmail.com. To reach Cindy Bowe about Blessings in a Backpack - NK and how you can donate to this program all year round, please email her at cindy_bowe@nksd.net.