A Concert to Benefit Framingham Children in Need

Framingham has shown a knack for coming together for worthy causes. This Friday, comes another opportunity to come together. A charity event called the Timothy’s Toy Box Benefit Concert, will go down at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The concert will feature several students from Centre Music House, items donated from local businesses, and raffles for items including a guitar.

The Timothy’s Toy Box Benefit Concert will raise money for the local charity, Timothy’s Toy Box. This Framingham-based organization was started in 2007 by Sharon Gilbert and her son, Timothy. Timothy shared that Timothy’s Toy Box goal is to provide “gifts for the holidays to less fortunate children in Framingham.” Each year, Timothy explains, “we collect, buy and give toys to over 400 kids. We try to give each child their wish list item, another toy, a game, a book, a puzzle and a craft so they get a good mix of things.”

The Center Music House Band, Alt-Hideaway, and solo performer Emmaline Ocain will be providing the musical entertainment for the evening. The members of Alt-Hideaway include guitarists Jack Mooney and Devin Cox, singer/guitarist Jenny Sturim, drummer Max Davino, and singer/bassist Suzanna Sarkar.

Centre Music House manager Max Larson shared that the House Band Program “is a new after-school program for teen musicians who want to play in a band with other advanced musicians.” In developing the program, they wanted to include a community service aspect to the program. “We decided that, instead of the band selling tickets to their final concert for the purpose of making money, we would make it a charitable event and all the money from ticket sales would benefit a local organization.”

The choice of Timothy’s Toy Box as the organization to receive the funds raised was an easy one. Alt-Hideaway guitarist Jack is friends with Timothy and strongly advocated to make Timothy’s Toy Box the band’s choice. Max said “it ended up being a great choice, in my opinion, because Timothy’s Toy Box is a small, hyper-local organization. They serve about 450 kids in Framingham. So, the contributions the band makes can go really, really far compared to if they chose a larger organization.”

Sharon and Timothy are humbled that Timothy’s Toy Box will be receiving the help. Timothy said that they are “very excited and grateful that they chose us for the benefit concert. It means a lot to me that they are helping to raise money for us and that they are helping to spread the word about Timothy's Toy Box.”

Max described the undertaking behind making this concert happen as a true Framingham community effort. Since October, Alt-Hideaway has been rehearsing at the Crossroads Community Church, located on Edgell Road. When Centre Music House was searching for a venue to hold the concert, The Reverend Julie Carson graciously offered the St. Andrew’s facility. To further help the cause and raise money, Emad and Odeit from Framingham Sub Shop and Pizzeria are donating pizzas and Jules and Sami from Dulche d Leche are providing delicious treats.

Band director John Paollili praised the members of Alt-Hideaway and Emmaline Ocain as being “passionate about music, their craft, and expressing themselves. The work ethic of these students is the number one thing that makes them unique.” Max agreed and added, “I can’t say enough good things about this group and what makes them special. When it comes to the music, they hold themselves and each other to a very high standard.”

John believes that the concert will “reach our fundraising goal of $500. It’s the season of giving. Timothy’s Toy Box is a fantastic organization. I know that Alt-Hideaway and Emmaline, the show opener, are going to have a great time and they will certainly entertain the audience.” Max hopes they have fun, too. “I’ve had a blast working with these kids over the last several weeks and I’m very proud of their progress as musicians and how they’ve rallied together as a group. I hope they’re proud of themselves as well.”

All the money raised as a result of the concert will go far in ensuring young Framingham kids in need are able to fully celebrate the holidays. Sharon said “the funds raised will be used to buy wish list toys that we will need to purchase. Many toys are donated but we do not always get in the toys that the kids put on their list, so we purchase those. Each child receives their wish list item plus 4 to 5 additional gifts. We also provide the parents with batteries, gift wrap, scissors, tags and tape so that they can see what their child is getting and can be part of it by wrapping the gifts.”

If you are not able to attend the concert and would still like to support Timothy’s Toy Box, Timothy shared that you “can donate online at our website www.timothystoybox.com They can collect new toys and deliver to our donation box at 4 Anderson Road, Framingham. We collect toys all year”.

The concert takes place this Friday, December 14th at the St. Andrews Episcopal Church located at 3 Maple Street in Framingham. Doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets are $10 per person and can be purchased here or at the door. All are welcome and encouraged to attend.