Elon to host student-organized benefit concert for Caribbean Island hurricane relief

“Helping Hands United: A Benefit Concert for Caribbean Island Hurricane Relief” will be held Friday, Feb. 23 from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Danieley PARC.

By Sarah Collins ‘18

A series of severe hurricanes in September 2017 left many Caribbean islands severely damaged and in desperate need of relief efforts. Frustrated by limited action from the U.S. government, Elon senior Kellcee Batchelor took it upon himself to organize a benefit concert to increase awareness about the issue and to fundraise for those still in need.

“Helping Hands United: A Benefit Concert for Caribbean Island Hurricane Relief” will be held on Friday, Feb. 23 from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. in the Danieley PARC. For just $5, members of the Elon community can enjoy live music from eight Elon artists and sample traditional Caribbean and Latinx cuisine. Cash and Phoenix Cash will be accepted at the door.

Elon artists performing at the concert include Komodo & Casper, Julius Tunstall, LowFly, Rosemary Joaquin, Lesser Bay, K.FRESHH, Jay Faires & Friends and Music by DJ Alexis. Several of the artists are signed to Limelight Records, Elon’s student-run record label, which is helping underwrite the concert expenses.

All proceeds from the event will be donated to three nonprofit organizations that support Caribbean relief efforts, including International Relief Teams, the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and Unidos por Puerto Rico.

“As a person first and as an artist second, I live life in an emotionally vulnerable state,” says Batchelor, who performs as K.FRESHH. “It’s easy to become paralyzed by fear, easy to feed into negativity and easy to say you can’t do anything in situations like this. But I saw something wrong in the world, and I wanted to do something about it.”

Batchelor, who believes in the power of musicians to inspire positive social and political change, recruited Elon artists from a variety of genres to perform at the benefit concert. He says that all of the artists were eager to lend their talents to support others in need.

“This is about more than a concert,” he says. “This is about a cause greater than us. As artists, we have a platform to educate others about social justice issues.”

More than 15 Elon organizations have partnered to make the event possible, including Limelight, Black Student Union, CREDE, Caribbean Student Association, El Centro, Latinx/Hispanic Union, Student Government Association, Student Union Board, Elon Chapter of Delta Upsilon Fraternity, Sigma Delta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Omicron Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

“At Elon, we talk a lot about the importance of being global citizens,” says Batchelor. “This is one way for us to show that we really care.”