Message from the National Council of Churches USA
The National Council of Churches USA will sponsor a benefit evening concert with legendary folk-singers Judy Collins, Noel (Paul) Stookey and Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary on Tuesday, April 12th at 7:00 pm at the Anheuser Busch Performance Hall at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center, University of Missouri in St. Louis, MO. The concert will benefit the survivors of the recent Tsunami disaster. Tickets can be purchased online at http://www.touhill.org or at the ticket office at 314-516-4949; toll free at 866-516-4949. Tickets for admittance to an after concert “Meet and Greet” and a later “Dinner with the Performers” can be purchased over the phone.
“The media blitz is over, but the pain of thousands of tsunami survivors goes on,” said the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches USA, the concert’s sponsor. “We are working to foster Americans’ long-term engagement with Asians in rebuilding their communities.” “This is a very important national call to action and an alert to our country about the necessity of continuing our efforts to alleviate the terrible, ongoing plight of the tsunami survivor,” said Peter Yarrow.
Full details about the concert and a national online giving campaign can be found at http://concert.theeffortcontinues.org where Mr. Yarrow narrates a personal invitation. The event is being produced by St. Louis-based Webinar Resources. “This is a grass roots effort that began in the heartland of St. Louis and now has grown to be a national campaign to address the continuing needs of the tsunami survivors,” says Mark Rice, Managing Director of Webinar Resources.
The Council’s Interfaith Relations Director, the Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana, and Vince Isner, Director of FaithfulAmerica.org, the NCC’s online advocacy organization traveled to Sri Lanka and Indonesia Jan. 7-19. They toured areas hard-hit by the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami and their chronicled journey can be seen at http://www.faithfulamerica.blogspot.com.
At the concert, Dr. Edgar and Dr. Premawardhana will have just returned from a pan-Asian ecumenical meeting and recent visits to tsunami-affected areas. Fresh from those experiences, Dr. Edgar will be present to host the April 12th concert.
Ticket Office hours are Monday-Friday 10am - 6pm. Proceeds from the April 12th concert will be shared among several humanitarian organizations from multi-faith communities active in post-tsunami response
About the National Council of Churches USA: The NCC’s 36 mainline Protestant, Orthodox, Episcopal, African American and Living Peace member churches – which in turn count 45 million members in more than 100,000 local congregations nationwide – work collaboratively against poverty and for peace, human rights and good environmental stewardship. The Council’s program commissions direct work in the areas of Communication, Education and Leadership, Faith and Order, Interfaith Relations, and Justice and Advocacy. The NCC was founded in 1950. For more information, call 212-870-2227 or visit http://www.ncccusa.org.
About Webinar Resources: Webinar Resources provides affordable, customer acquisition solutions that include on-demand rich media presentations, planning and production of live events and Web seminars (Webinars), online registration services and rich media marketing communications. Webinar Resources offers customers professional managed services while minimizing the time, effort and expense invested in producing online and on-demand communications and events. For more information, call (866) 470-5849 or visit http://www.webinarresources.com
