Enough with the spaghetti dinners already.
Sam Finklea knew when he was asked to chair the Exchange Club of Lake Highlands’ fundraising committee this year that there would be no marinara-inspired events. He readily accepted the position – on one condition.
“I wanted to step things up and do something a little bit different, put a little sizzle into whatever we wanted to do,” Finklea says. “It’s usually, you know, mediocre turnout, and it’s no big deal.”
Essentially, Finklea wanted to give Lake Highlanders a reason to party. So he invited neighborhood dad bands to showcase their stuff in an Exchange Club-sponsored jam session. The result is LH Live!, and the promotional poster looks like something for a Lower Greenville concert than a neighborhood service club fundraiser.
“It’s gone from a pulse to a major heartbeat,” Finklea says. “It’s gotten a little bigger than I anticipated.”
Three bands – The PitPops, The Malfunktions and Wes Niles & the Texas Skeeters – will spend nearly six hours performing round robin-style in 15-minute spurts. Their music has something for everyone, ranging from classic rock to country to disco. All of the bands offered to participate pro bono.
“Several of our kids have been beneficiaries of Exchange Club scholarships, so it’s our way of paying them back a little bit,” says Gary French of The PitPops.
The dance floor will be wide open, and there is talk of a dance contest at some point in the evening. The food will match the casual atmosphere – brats, burgers, peanuts and popcorn.
“Nothing fancy. We didn’t want a stuffy tablecloth-type event,” Finklea says.
Half of the money raised will be donated to the Child Abuse Prevention Center, and the other half will go to worthwhile Lake Highlands projects, says Exchange Club president John Dean. The event sets the stage for the club’s largest event of the year, its March auction, which nets roughly $125,000 for Lake Highlands High School scholarships.
“It’s a lot of hard work, too,” Dean says. “So we decided this year we would also do a fun-raiser.”
