Like people all over the world, Austin musician Miranda Dodson wants to help earthquake-ravaged Haiti.
"You do feel helpless, so you just pray and you hope and you do what you can," she said.
She is joining other musicians through the non-profit group Music for the City to put on a benefit concert Monday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. at the Parish. Musicians are donating their time and sponsors are paying for the venue, so every penny raised will go to Haiti relief efforts.
"When I called my band up, every single one of them -- and they're working musicians -- said, 'For sure, I'll be there,' '' Dodson said. "I have been given a gift of music, and I feel like it's my responsiblity as an artist to make the world a better place. When you see the suffering that's happening...I can't think of a better time than now to do that."
Proceeds from the concert will go to Real Help for Haiti, a faith-based organization working in Haiti. It runs a relief center in the small village of Cazale, near Port Au Prince, where workers care for dozens of orphaned or abandoned children.
Among those children is 4-year-old Amos, who has been adopted by an Austin couple, Aaron and Jamie Ivey.
The couple adopted two children -- Amos and 2-year-old Story -- but Amos had to stay in Haiti when they returned home because of red tape over his adoption. He was at the relief center at the time of the earthquake.
His father, Austin musician Aaron Ivey, says he knows the concert can't relieve all the suffering in Haiti, but he says it could make a big difference in Cazale.
"You can't change the entire country of Haiti in one day, but with this show, we can impact this one small village that's in crisis," he says.
"We're stoked about it," Ivey said. "We're excited to be a part of it. It's been so cool to see artists from Austin gather together across genres and say, 'We want to be a part of it. We want to be a part of answering an immediate need.' Combining art with justice is a beautiful thing."
This will be the first concert sponsored by Music for the City.
"It's been insane," said director Nate Navarro. "Literally this whole concert came together in 24 hours."
He says trying to help Haiti relief efforts is a good first the group, which describes itself as a community of artists, businesses and Austinites working together to help the city's charities.
"This is a fun way to help," Navarro said. "You come downtown, see some really great bands, pay a little bit of money and know it's going to a really great cause."
Director of development Kristin Vasquez says almost every musician contacted about the concert enthusiastically said they wanted to participate in it.
"People have been moving their schedules around and switching up shows to be here," she says.
Professional photographer Steven Bush is donating a collection of photographs and prints, some of them taken in Haiti, to be sold at the concert.
"A missionary friend of mine said when you go to Haiti your heart is broken into a million pieces and you never leave with all of them," he says. "Haiti draws me in. It's just very personal and very close to my heart and we are going to do whatever we can to get them the help they need."
