9/15/09

In the same spirit of Farm Aid, The Concert for New York and Live 8, a new student group coordinates benefit concerts in Aggieland for people in need around the world.

"Headphones 4 Hope is a student organization that we’re hoping to make into an actual nonprofit at some point," says Chris Thomas, a technology management major in the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development. "We do benefit concerts for nonprofit organizations, charities and other causes."

Chris, along with co-founders Robert Recer, Matt Oberhelman and James Brenton, organize the benefit concerts with the help of volunteers. The organization is open to students and anyone else who is interested in joining. 

Local bands representing a wide variety of musical genres perform at the concerts. 

Musicians themselves, Chris and his co-founders have been arranging concerts for a long time. "We’re all in bands and have lots of experience setting up shows, so we figured we might as well do it for a good cause," he says.

Chris plays bass and guitar, and is currently in three bands. He also writes music.

Last May, Headphones 4 Hope raised money for the 1000 Wells Project, a group that drills wells in Africa to deliver clean drinking water to residents.

Headphones 4 Hope plans to hold another benefit concert later this semester for the 1000 Wells Project. They will be working with MSC Town Hall, a student committee that plans entertainment events on campus.

"We started Headphones 4 Hope because we wanted to give back to the community and help out people in need," Chris says.

For more information on Headphones 4 Hope, visit http://headphones4hope.tamu.edu.