Music for Food Concert Benefits Feed & Clothe My People

The Griffon String Quartet’s holiday concert raises money and food for local charity.

Sister Bay, Wis. (January 18, 2023) – The Griffon String Quartet’s special Music for Food benefit holiday concert on December 16 attracted a generous audience to Hope United Church of Christ to support the mission of Feed & Clothe My People in Sturgeon Bay, WI, while enjoying seasonal favorites along with works by Beethoven and Heitor Villa-Lobos.

This event marked the third Music for Food concert Midsummer’s Music has hosted to support Door County food pantries. A total of $750 was raised, and 110 pounds of food were donated. Previous Music for Food fundraising concerts were with the Griffon String Quartet in November 2021, and in May 2022 featuring Midsummer’s Executive Director Allyson Fleck on viola and Birch Creek’s Executive Director Mona Christensen on flute.

Feed My People volunteer Nancy Skadden stated, “Feed My People is grateful for the donations you collected for us. We depend entirely on the generosity of the Door County community for donations of food, cash, and goods and clothing for sale in our 14th Avenue Thrift Store, which make it possible for us to provide for the needs of anyone in the county who comes to us.”

Feed and Clothe My People is a charitable organization formed in 1982 by Bev Hogan, Bev Knutson, and Rev. Burke Johnson for the purpose of providing sustenance to local residents in need. The program was initially designed to meet emergency needs only. As the number of residents in need of food and clothing increased, so did the scope of required services. The thrift store and food pantry serve the public without discrimination based on age, gender, race, or religious affiliation.

Midsummer’s Music is the official Door County representative of the Boston-based Music for Food program. Music for Food’s concerts have raised funds to create more than 1.5 million meals. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, food-insecurity affected countless Americans, especially those with children and those who self-identified as Black, Latinx, or Native American. More than 35 million people in the United States face food-insecurity. Information about Music for Food, including the locations and dates of other events, is available at musicforfood.net.

One of the most vibrant and engaging quartets of their generation, the Griffon String Quartet was formed in the fall of 2018 as a collaboration between Midsummer’s Music and the Fine Arts Institute at East High in Green Bay. The GSQ is a groundbreaking project to enrich the lives of children and adults throughout Northeast Wisconsin through concerts, workshops, and music education outreach. Extraordinary musicians who have performed with orchestras and ensembles around the globe, they are equally dedicated to music education and inspiring the next generation of music lovers. Each member of the Griffon String Quartet has advanced degrees and significant professional experience, both as educators and performers, and they have been recognized for “their youthful vigor, which is absolutely infectious!”

Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.