A pair of Quad Cities nonprofits, Common Chord and River Bend Food Bank, are joining forces for a 12-day online fundraiser dubbed “Musicians for Nutrition.”
As part of the campaign, local musicians will provide recordings of holiday songs to be shared collectively on the two organizations’ social media platforms. A new song will be released each day along with a donation link for food bank contributions. The fundraiser will run from Monday, Dec. 11, through Friday, Dec. 21.
Common Chord in downtown Davenport will work directly with local musicians to coordinate the songs for this campaign, which will raise funds directly for the food bank.
“We are so grateful to Common Chord for partnering with us,” River Bend’s Director of Marketing and Communications Mike Mathews said in a news release. “This presents a great opportunity to not only raise much needed funds for River Bend Food Bank, but also support Common Chord’s mission of improving our community through music.”
“It’s one of those great ‘win-win’ projects,” he added.
Project a win-win
River Bend Food Bank works with 400-plus hunger-relief partners in 23 counties to make sure people facing hunger have reliable access to healthy food. River Bend leads the community-wide effort to eliminate hunger in eastern Iowa and western Illinois. It distributes millions of meals each year to children, adults, and seniors through its network of partner agencies and food pantries in schools, senior residences and community organizations.
Common Chord (formerly River Music Experience) is a community music organization that builds a stronger community through the power of music with programming that includes concerts, music education, industry advocacy, and community engagement.
Tyson Danner, Common Chord’s executive director, sees the new collaboration as a great opportunity to show how music can make a difference. “By sharing the work of our talented local musicians, we hope to draw more attention to the issue of food insecurity which affects our whole community,” Mr. Danner said.
The new fundraising effort comes at a time when River Bend is experiencing a steady decrease in food donations, which began during COVID-19. The decline makes monetary support all the more critical.
“This time of year is hard for many families struggling with food insecurity,” Jenny Colvin, the food bank’s chief development officer, said. “It means the world to us for Common Chord to step and utilize their strengths and talents in a unique and heart-warming way to support our mission.”
To support the Musicians for Nutrition fundraiser, can visit either River Bend Food Bank or Common Chord’s Facebook pages or visit the donation link directly here.
