Young at Heart Benefit Concert
PITTSFIELD, Mass. - As part of Elder Services’ 35th Anniversary celebration, the acclaimed senior chorus, Young@Heart, will perform at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre at 4 p.m. on Saturday, August 15. All proceeds will benefit Elder Services’ Meals on Wheels program.The performers in Young@Heart range in age from 73 to 89. The group was formed in 1982, when all the original members lived in a senior housing project in Northampton, MA. Although none of the original members still perform, the group is stronger and more popular than ever, performing throughout the United States and Europe to welcoming and appreciative audiences. Young@Heart is known for their unique repertoire and delivery, performing songs from “contemporary artists” such as the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Outkast, David Bowie, The Clash, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, The Police, The Ramones, Sonic Youth and Allen Toussaint. The lyrics to the songs take on new meaning when sung by performers with so much life experience – think – “Stayin’ Alive” and “You Can’t Always Get What you Want”, for instance._ _
Bob Cilman, the artistic director, leads the group. His work with the chorus is highlighted in the award-winning 2007 documentary film Young@Heart , which chronicles two months in the Young@Heart Chorus members’ lives as they prepare for a one-night concert in Northampton.
All proceeds from the August 15 Young@Heart performance will go directly to Elder Services’ Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program, which helps address senior hunger and malnutrition throughout the Berkshires. Elder Services began offering home-delivered meals in 1975. Since 1994, Elder Services has operated its own kitchen in Lanesboro, which has prepared over 3 million hot, nutritious weekday meals for Berkshire County seniors. In 2008, the Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program prepared* *more than* *a quarter-million meals, and Meals on Wheels drivers traveled more than 226,000 miles throughout Berkshire County to deliver over 200,000 of those meals to frail, homebound* *seniors. Elder Services’ Meals on Wheels program provides not only a hot meal, but also a wellness check. In many cases the interaction the senior has with the driver is the only face-to-face contact a senior has that day.
The remaining meals were served to seniors attending Elder Services 14 senior dining sites, located throughout the county. The Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program has been dangerously under-funded for years, and relies on community support to address its funding deficit.
The event’s primary sponsor is Greylock Federal Credit Union, with additional funding provided by EPOCH Assisted Living at Melbourne. Their donations have made it possible for all ticket proceeds to go directly to Elder Services’ Nutrition/Meals on Wheels program.
As you’re planning your summer entertainment, please consider supporting Meals on Wheels while you enjoy a wonderful, uplifting performance by Young@Heart.
Tickets for the August 15 event are available through the Colonial Theatre’s box office, located at 111 South Street in Pittsfield, by calling 413-997-4444 or by visiting the Colonial Theatre’s website at www.TheColonialTheatre.org.
