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Concert Raises $2,100 to Combat Domestic Violence

EAST SWANZEY, NH (May 23, 2005) - Although they still are raising money to purchase a new building, the members of Monadnock Covenant Church sponsored a concert last week that featured three top Christian music artists to benefit the local domestic violence center.

Appearing at the concert Tuesday were Fernando Ortega, Bebo Norman and Sara Groves. The concert attracted 700 people, raised $2,100 and increased awareness of the issue and the center.

"We've actually gotten some phone calls from people that needed help," says Gail Kennedy-Haines, the executive director of the Monadnock Center for Violence Prevention. "It brought a very good level of awareness," she says.

The victims of domestic violence benefited from the concert in ways beyond community awareness. "They were just amazed that there were people who would do this for them," Kennedy-Haines says. In addition to operating a shelter, the center is involved with court advocacy and operates a 24-hour crisis line.

The folks at Monadnock, which averages around 140 in worship service attendance, decided to take on the project after the idea was brought to them by Linda Williams, the pastor of children and family ministry. Williams volunteers with the center.

"I have a real passion for women and children and men who have been victims of abuse," says Williams. The county in which Monadnock is situated has a high rate of domestic violence. "It's a beautiful community," Williams says. "It's quaint and attractive, but behind closed doors . . . "

Several obstacles confronted the concert's organizers, including location and finances. "We don't get many artists here because we're pretty well off the beaten path," Williams says. She credits the concert idea to a friend from another church who made the initial contacts. That church wasn't ready to take the lead in promoting the concert, which was going to cost $10,000. Raising that kind of money would prove a stretch for the Monadnock congregation as well.

The church has been meeting in a store front for 10 years and is getting ready to break ground on a new building in September, Williams observes. "We're in the middle of a building project and we're already scrambling for money." That kind of challenge wasn't about to deter the group, however. "Our church does a lot of risk taking," Williams noted. "Those risks paid off. The church was able to get four companies in the area to contribute a significant portion of the cost. Twenty other businesses and other churches also helped support the event."

Promoting the concert was in keeping with the congregation's mission, Williams says. "We want to be engaged in the community - we're here to serve the community." And that message apparently did not fall on deaf ears – the community, and especially the victims of abuse, heard it loud and clear. "We are a safe church that they can come to."

To learn more about Monadnock Covenant Church and its ministries, please see Monadnock Covenant.

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