The “Neighbors for Nepal” benefit to raise money for earthquake survivors in Nepal will be held on July 11, 2015, from 5 pm to 10 pm at the Odd Fellows Lodge located at 415 Second Street. The benefit will send funds to the Bhotang region of Nepal to help them rebuild a local school destroyed in the recent earthquakes.
Many local Nepali students have helped plan the event. They have organized a grassroots group in Nepal to direct the funds to those in need.
Recently, a group of UC Davis medical students, including Nepali students, returned from Nepal after providing health care to over five villages in the Bhotang region. They treated over 450 patients, and several injured farm animals too. The team included medical students, physicians, interpreters and veterinarians from the Davis-Sacramento area and Kathmandu.
After talking with the village leaders in Bhotang, the students proposed that the funds from the fundraiser go directly to rebuilding the local school. Many of the children there are having a hard time adjusting to life after the earthquake. The school was also a meeting place for cultural events and women’s groups, and for other important community functions. Rebuilding the school will be important for healing the community as a whole.
The benefit will feature an evening of food and music, and local Nepali students will present a Nepali fashion show and perform traditional dances throughout the evening.
Dinner will be served from 5 pm to 8 pm with open seating.
Music begins at 6 pm. The Barry “The Fish” Melton Band, featuring Melton who co-founded Country Joe & the Fish, will headline at 9 pm. The band includes a talented mix of musicians including Peter Albin on bass, who played with Big Brother & the Holding Company; Banana, aka Lowell Levinger on keyboards and guitars, who co-founded the Youngbloods and played with Zero; and Roy Blumenfeld on drums, who played with the Blues Project and Seatrain. Melton, a longtime Davis resident and former Yolo County Public Defender, continues to play a mix of blues and rock.
Other bands include Zapato Viejo, playing at 8 pm; According to Bazooka at 7 pm; and Drivin’ South at 6 pm.
The benefit is co-sponsored by the Davis Odd Fellows Lodge and Soroptimist International of Davis.
Tickets are $40 and are now available online at http://www.showclix.com/event/NeighborsforNepal, or at the Avid Reader and Common Grounds in south Davis. For more information, contact Arun Sen at arun.sen@sbcglobal.net
