Dan's Papers - August 10, 2007 - preview: rock the farm

In two weeks, at one of the most beautiful locales in East Hampton, benevolent band The Giving Tree will be rocking the farmhouse. The Rock The Farm Benefit for Row New York and The Giving Tree Foundation will be held at John's Lane Farm in East Hampton on Saturday August 18 from 6 to 11 p.m. Row New York and The Giving Tree make a great team, as two budding organizations making an impact while having fun and exploring their passions.

The Giving Tree is a New York City-based seven-piece band, which donates all of its net proceeds to various charities. Each band member donates some of their earnings to charities near and dear to their hearts and the band will schedule gigs to benefit charities of choice as well. Some of the charities that have benefited from The Giving Tree include The Christopher Reeve Foundation, The Coalition for the Homeless, the Alzheimer Foundation and many more. The band has performed in a series of NYC venues such as Canal Room, The Red Lion and the Mercury Lounge. This summer, The Giving Tree took the Stephen Talkhouse by storm with several successful and exciting shows to benefit the Wounded Warrior Foundation, an organization that aims to raise awareness for the needs and aid of severely wounded service men and women. The band will be playing the Talkhouse again for the Wounded Warrior Foundation on August 31 at 10 pm (tickets are $20).

Row New York is an organization that provides athletic, academic and personal support to inner-city girls through the team sport of crew. It was founded by Amanda Kraus, who was captain of the crew team as an undergrad at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. While she was receiving her master's degree in education at Harvard, Kraus worked closely with G-Row Boston, a program similar to Row New York, founded in 1998 for girls in Boston public schools. Seeing the strength of the program and the personal growth of the girls she worked with inspired Kraus to start Row New York. The Row New York team practices six days a week on Meadow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, as well as in indoor locations in New York City. In addition to the tough physical training, the girls receive academic assistance with college planning sessions and support, as well as academic extra help and tutors. The girls get advice from speakers from around the country and form deep bonds with each other. The organization has a great impact on the lives of young inner-city women and provides an outlet to the outdoors that they might not get otherwise, as well as a group of people who they can trust.

These two organizations will team up for this wonderful event on Saturday, August 18, providing guests with dinner, drinks, music, dancing and all-around fun. The venue is a privately run horse farm run by Maggie Kotuk. Since the 17-acre farm is in a unique and picturesque location, it has been used for numerous events, photo shoots and weddings. This intimate setting creates the perfect atmosphere for this event that promises to have you singing and dancing for a good cause. Starting at 6:30 p.m., Rebecca Haviland will showcase her vocal talent with The Giving Tree's various cover songs including tracks by Dave Matthews, Aretha Franklin and Paul Simon and The Nancy Atlas Project will be performing as well. The entertainment should be top notch. There will be an array of BBQ favorites with a luau theme catered by The Seafood Shop as well as an open bar. So not only will the crowd be engaged by the musical tunes, but the food should be finger-lickin' good. Bull Path Capital Management, Wolverine Trading and Arkay Packaging will under ride the event while 10 Cane Rum is the primary sponsor. Tickets are $75. The benefit will provide a good time for a good cause.