Fairfield County Charity Will Mark 25th Year with Rare Performance by Local Icon
Harry Connick, Jr. will perform at a benefit for Fairfield County’s Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education on November 1st. The annual benefit provides critical funding for the charity’s support of programs serving the neediest adults and children in Fairfield County. This year marks the charity’s 25th annual benefit dinner.
“We are delighted and honored that Harry Connick, Jr. will perform at our benefit in November,” says Richard T. Stone, executive director of The Inner-City Foundation. “We really wanted to mark our 25th year, and honor all those who have helped us for the last quarter century, in a significant way. Harry Connick, Jr. is a world-class star, and having an intimate performance by him at our benefit is going to make it a special evening”
It will be rare indeed to see Harry Connick, Jr. in such an intimate setting, since he regularly sells out much larger venues around the world. The multiple Grammy award winner has been entertaining audiences since the age of five, when he performed the music of his native New Orleans as a pianist and vocalist. He moved to New York at age 18, signed with Columbia Records and three years later achieved multi-platinum success. Over the past three decades, he has established himself as a legendary musician, singer, composer, live performer and best-selling artist with millions of records sold around the world.
Harry is also an accomplished actor and television personality, and has received Emmy awards and Tony nominations for his work on the stage and screen. He joined “American Idol” as a judge in 2013 alongside Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban. His new nationally-syndicated daytime television variety show “Harry” launched this week.
Despite his busy career, Harry has always found the time to be charitable and has done some of his most important work in his efforts to help his native New Orleans rebuild after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He, along with friend Branford Marsalis, conceived of “Musicians’ Village,”a community in the Upper Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Musicians’ Village provides homes for Katrina-displaced musicians and its focal point, the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, is a teaching facility for children, a performance hall and recording studio for musicians, and a gathering place for the community. Harry now lends a hand to assist a similar population right here in Fairfield County when he performs at the gala for The Inner-City Foundation for Education & Charity.
The Inner-City Foundation expects that Harry’s name will render their benefit a hot ticket this fall, and that it will be a boon to their 25th year fundraising effort to raise $2.5 million this year — more than twice what they typically raise in a year.
“Need is up but funding is down,” says Stone. “State budget cuts in April have had a devastating impact on the most vulnerable members of our community. And the gap is widening — a full 28% of people who live in Fairfield County are now unable to meet the basic cost of living in the county. Unless increased resources materialize from other places now, such as foundations like ours, a lot of people are going to have nowhere to turn.”
“We do all the legwork so donors don’t have to,” says Stone. “We carefully vet all these organizations to make sure they are efficient and effective, and we look for organizations that are providing not only a safety net but also a springboard to a better future,” he says. “And because of our experience, minimal staff, and dedicated, passionate volunteer board members, we’re highly efficient. Ninety percent, or 90 cents, of every dollar that we raise goes directly to the organizations we support."
The Inner-City Foundation’s 25th annual benefit dinner featuring Harry Connick, Jr. will take place November 1st at the Hyatt Regency in Greenwich. Emmy award-winning television weather and news anchor Dave Price of NBC 4 New York will be the Master of Ceremonies. Barbara & Ray Dalio, Bill Mitchell and Jack Welch are Honorary Chairs of the event. Linda & Jack Mitchell, Sue Mitchell, and The Mitchell Family are chairing the Benefit Committee along with co-chairs Audrey & Daniel Dornier, Helen & Dan FitzPatrick, and Vilma & Dick Matteis. Bill Tommins of Bank of America chairs the Corporate Committee, and Joe Lane and Brian Moran co-chair the 25 for 25 Campaign, the cornerstone of the charity’s 25th year appeal.
For tables and tickets for the benefit or to donate to The Inner-City Foundation’s 25th Year Ap- peal, visit The Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education at www.innercityfoundation.org, email communications@innercityfoundation.org or call 203.416.1496.
For more information about The Inner-City Foundation or to donate visit The Inner-City Foundation for Charity & Education at www.innercityfoundation.org, email communications@innercityfoundation.org or call 203.416.1496.