Bluegrass Gospel Project Performs For Charlotte
Nonprofit On November 5
by Meg Smith, co-founder of Volunteer Vermont,
November 3, 2011, page 16.....

The Bluegrass Gospel Project performs on Saturday, November 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Burlington (38 South Winooski Avenue). The concert is a benefit for Volunteer Vermont, a Charlotte-based nonprofit that began in 1998 as a one-time effort to help rebuild a South Carolina church and has evolved into a community-service opportunity for local high school students.
Thirteen years and hundreds of students later, Volunteer Vermont participants continue to drive down to Summerton, South Carolina, to spend a week learning new building skills as well as what life is like in a small African-American parish community. We never expected this effort to go on for so many years, but the experience with the Prayer House Mission Church community moved us in ways we never anticipated. Every April, six adults and 22 students head south. It’s a wonderful time for all of us, both students and adults alike, and we become our own little family for that week, working and playing together. And every year the Prayer House Mission community welcomes us as family coming home. It’s just a beautiful, amazing thing that’s evolved over the years.   
Since 2001 the Bluegrass Gospel Project has played a benefit concert for Volunteer Vermont. Ironically, it too began as a one-time concert to help the fledgling nonprofit raise money for building supplies. In similar fashion, the relationship between the band and the cause has deepened; the band has performed seven concerts over the past ten years for Volunteer Vermont. The Bluegrass Gospel Project, acclaimed for its musicianship and four-part vocal harmonies, plays a wide-ranging songlist that runs from early American spirituals and ballads to contemporary music from artists like Bob Dylan and U2. 
Experience a remarkable evening of music while contributing to the true spirit of community building. Tickets ($20 per person; children 12 and under are free) are available for sale from Meg Smith (megsmithvt@madriver.com) or through the Flynn Box Office flynntix.com or telephone 86-FLYNN.
For more information about Volunteer Vermont, contact Meg Smith at 425-4141 or megsmithvt@madriver.com.