Acts 4 Ministry's "Inspiration" Fundraiser at Palace Theater to Feature Survivors Swing Band

WATERBURY, Conn. - March 2, 2016 - PRLog -- The Survivors Swing Band, widely popular across Connecticut, will be the featured entertainment at the non-denominational, non-profit Acts 4 Ministry’s annual fundraising reception, “Inspiration: Inspiring acts of love”. The fundraiser will be held Friday, April 1st from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Lower and Mezzanine Orchestra Lobbies of the Palace Theater in Waterbury.

“This event is an annual celebration of the many ways our organization impacts positive changes in the Greater Waterbury community. We support the daily needs of families and individuals who are in dire financial distress because they have lost virtually everything they possess to a fire, flood, or other devastating life event,” explained the Waterbury-based charitable organization’s executive director, Sarah Elizabeth Carabetta.

“We are truly very excited to welcome the spectacular Survivors Swing Band that performs across our state year-round,” commented Carabetta. The seven-piece professional band plays classic songs primarily from 1920s to the 1940s “era gone-by.” Members of the band are “well-seasoned” mostly retired professionals, aged in their mid-40's through mid-90's, who play many memorable songs from the "Swing Era" including some hot tunes, soothing ballads and wonderful melodies from the two decades that followed as well.

Since entering the Connecticut music field in 2011, the Survivors Swing Band have over 250 successful live performances to their credit, the greater percentage being return performances. The band plays thirteen instruments and there’s a vocalist. Instruments played include piano; guitar; banjo; soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxes; clarinet; trumpet; cornet; baritone horn; string bass and percussion. “With this mix,” states Jules Bashkin, alto sax player and the band’s ‘most seasoned’ member at 94 years of age, “we easily re-create the music of the nostalgic 1919-1954 dance band swing era.

As a group, we know our melodies and harmonies well, and how it all fits together stylistically. We believe in the timelessness of much of the music of the Swing Era. Our reward playing this music is in seeing the audience’s pleasure when they re-hear these classics. All our band members are striving to keep the great tunes alive, listenable, danceable, and enjoyable today, as much so as when they were first written.”

Lauren Humpage, the Survivors bass player, vocalist and band secretary, further explains, “The ‘Big Bands’ played their music with a high degree of rigid orchestration. Our band renders the music with a greater lilt toward improvisation to give each pass at a tune something of a new flavor while keeping true to the original melodies.”

Additional members of the Survivors Swing Band, (www.SurvivorsSB.com), include Jeremy Alston, drums; Greg Butko, reeds; Dave Mechler, cornet, trumpet; Bill Steinhauser, banjo, guitar; and Sandra Wittman, piano, the band’s youngest and newest member. Through recent years, the band has been featured on CT Public Radio, “The Hartford Courant”, “New Haven Register”, Meriden “Record-Journal”, “Connecticut” magazine and many other media outlets statewide.

Sponsors to date of Acts 4 Ministry’s 2016 “Inspiration” fundraiser are Inspirational Sponsor, Bourassa Catering and Events; Motivational Sponsor, Thomaston Savings Bank; Influential Sponsor, Connecticut Community Foundation and O’Rourke and Birch Florists; and Beneficial Sponsors, Branagan Communications Consultants LLC, CDS Displays, Inc., Industrial Management & Training Institute (IMTI); and Friend Sponsor, Merchant Choice Payment Solutions.

“Acts 4 Ministry is not a church,” explained Carabetta. “We are a collaborative group of a volunteer board of directors, staff members and a multitude of volunteers who desire to share God’s love by meeting the physical needs of others. We achieve this goal daily on many levels by collecting and distributing, free-of-charge to recipients, clothing and housewares with an accommodating furniture program through volunteerism. Each year we distribute clothing to nearly 4,000 people, and over 1,000 pieces of furniture and housewares to people of varying income levels throughout the Greater Waterbury area.”

Tickets for the April 1^st “Inspiration” fundraiser are $45/ person and can be secured by clicking “Click to Give” at top right corner of www.Acts4.org home page, or clicking “Purchase Tickets” under the “Inspiration” event on the Events page, or by check or money order made payable to Acts 4 Ministry, Inc. and U.S. Mailed to PO Box 4524, Waterbury, CT 06704.

Tickets may also be purchased at Acts 4 Ministry’s building and retail shop at 1713 Thomaston Avenue Mondays through Friday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and select Saturdays, or by calling 203-574-2287, or via www.palacetheaterct.org.

Tax-deductible donations can be brought to Acts 4 Ministry’s facility Mondays through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. and select Saturdays. Cash or money order donations can be U.S. Mailed to P.O. Box 4524, Waterbury, CT 06704. To donate online with a credit card, visit www.acts4.org and go to “Click to Give” in the top right corner of the home page.

To learn more about Acts 4 Ministry, Inc.’s clothing and basic household goods needs and distributions; home visits; furniture deliveries; and our support of local area foods banks, health clinics, shelters, soup kitchens, disaster relief agencies, and international community support, please visit www.acts4.org.