Today at the Columbia Rotary Club, Jim Sonefeld, of Hootie and the Blowfish fame, was our main speaker. He and David Kunz of the Cooperative Ministry were talking about the ministry’s efforts to help our community’s working poor. Mr. Kunz spoke a bit at the beginning about the plight of the working poor in our community — something he said is far more extensive, and has a much greater impact on us all in terms of our overall economic and social health, than homelessness.
Mr. Sonefeld spoke glowingly of the Ministry’s work, and told the story of how he was blown away when he heard the Benedict College Gospel Choir’s a cappella rendering of Hootie’s signature hit, “Hold My Hand,” and decided immediately that he wanted to get the choir into the studio so that everyone could hear it. That led to asking his bandmates to go along (the four co-wrote the song) with an idea for helping the working poor in our area…
A video was commissioned, which you can view above. Watch it. And read more at the website.
And then, click here to go download the song from iTunes (or from the platform of your choice) — and the .99 you pay will go entirely to Cooperative Ministry.
I think Jim Sonefeld said it had been downloaded about 1,700 times. (I say “think” because I didn’t write it down, wrongly thinking I could see on iTunes how many times exactly.) I figure we could double that. Don’t you?
And it’s not hard. Even I did it. Actually, that is the FIRST thing I’ve ever downloaded from iTunes. I mean, you know, I own most of the music I want on vinyl, and what with my USB turntable, I can digitize any of that…
I really felt old when Jim Sonefeld started talking about how HE was kind of old for this downloading stuff, that he is still a vinyl kind of guy… because I think of him as a kid. So I saw that as a challenge to demonstrate my adaptability.
Which I just did. So should you.
By the way, a word about Mr. Sonefeld… Why does he do this? Well, he’s motivated to a great extent by his faith, to which he made numerous references. But someone asked how he got involved with public service. I think they were thinking that there was a road-to-Damascus story involving a hedonistic rocker suddenly seeing the light and becoming a servant to the poor — perhaps about the time he cut off all that hair and went for the David Carradine in “Kung Fu” look.
But no — he said that’s just the way his parents raised him. He always saw them doing for others, and so that’s what he tries to do.
I like that story…
Related Posts
