Music for Micro

Tonight I helped put on an event called “Music for Micro,” a combo coffee-house and acoustic/open-mic night!

From 7-10pm in the middle of Ensor Lounge, inside Decker College Center (essentially the middle of campus) we had quite a different set up from the normal couches and chairs for students to meet and hang out. Instead, we transformed the space into our own mini coffee house, complete with live music! Why music “for Micro”? Well Micro stands for micro finance, a really effective solution to combating poverty. In a nutshell, micro finance allows impoverished people to take out a small loan to create or expand a buisiness, which in turn lets them generate a sustainable income. The result? These people get to lift themselves out of poverty if they are only given the opportunity! I have personally seen the transforming results of micro loans in Cambodia this past summer, and have been eager to share about it on campus.

The evening was meant to be a fundraiser for a micro loan- specifically one for a woman in the Philippines. Since it was a fundraiser, we not only had musicians come and play some great live music on guitar and piano, but had a photography auction as well where people could bid on beautiful photographs taken by fellow students (starting prices from $1.50 to $3). We also had a slideshow running throughout the event showing pictures of the families I had met in Cambodia whose lives had been completely transformed by micro loans. Throughout the night there was our “coffee house” area with coffee, hot chocolate, tea and a selection of tasty pastries. People could pay $1 and get a hot drink and a pastry to eat while enjoying the music! As a final fun event, we invited Dangersauce, the campus improv group to come give a performance halfway through the night, which pulled a pretty decent crowd in.

Overall, a fun, relaxed evening of good music, refreshments and supporting a great cause. Hopefully McDaniel will continue to keep getting behind micro finance projects and make a real difference in the lives of people around the world!

PS. Advocacy Team, the club I lead on campus organized and ran the event