Local musicians team up to rock out for a good cause.

This past Saturday morning was not a typical one for me. By 9:30 a.m., I found myself in Rainier Valley, gloved up and making new friends over crates of cabbage, tins of coffee beans and supersize bags of dog food. The motivation for the early weekend wake-up call? To work alongside local musicians,  nonprofit do-gooders and regular Rainier Valley Food Bank volunteers in support of the upcoming Gigs4Good concert. 

“Songs of Summer,” put on by the organization Team Up For Nonprofits, will take place this Thursday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Triple Door. Every ticketsold to the show will provide $240 worth of food to be distributed at the Rainier Valley Food Bank. With only three full-time staff members, Rainier Valley Food Bank relies heavily on its many volunteers to help feed approximately 11,000 people who pass through each month. The food bank distributes goods on Wednesdays and Saturdays and is open to anyone willing to take a number and wait in line.

With many of the food bank families having immigrated to the U.S. (Chinese and Vietnamese communities being two of the most prominent), food bank volunteers are very conscious of providing culturally-approriate food options (for example chicken, bok choy and leafy greens).

The food bank also receives a lot of produce that is locally sourced and organic, and they will often offer “veggie starts” (with translators on hand) to explain how food bank visitors can grow their own food at home.

The lengthy line-up of artists playing at The Triple Door this Thursday includes bands like Lemolo, Noah Gunderson, Ghosts I’ve Met, Sons of Warren Oates, Gabriel Mintz and Brad Loomis. Another local band who will rock out on-stage, Big Sur, enthusiastically joined the team of volunteers Saturday morning, happy to pitch in and to see first-hand the people who will benefit from their concert proceeds. So if you’re looking for some great tunes that will support a great cause, The Triple Door’s the place to be this Thursday evening.

Gigs4Good’s “Songs of Summer” at Triple Door | Thursday, June 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Photos by Corinne Whiting