Lavonzell T. Nicholson Program Manager Maryland Food Bank (410) 247 -8282 x247 Nicholson@mdfoodbank.org

Liz Wagner Executive Director The Abundant Life Church 7305 East Furnace Branch Road Glen Burnie, MD. 21060 (410) - 761 - 9075 / Fax:(410) - 582 - 9739

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Benfield Elementary School Teresa Sacchetti, Principal 365 Lynwood Drive Severna Park, Maryland 21146 (410) - 222 - 6555

Jennifer's Country Flowers 7705 Quarterfield Road Glen Burnie, MD 21061 (410) - 766 - 9951 1-877-935-7600

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Goals/Objectives

The goal of establishing The Journey Foundation is assist families of students who are struggling financially and in need of food. We are starting with Corkran Middle School. The Journey Foundation would assure that the students attending Corkran Middle School eat and no child goes hungry simply because they do not have money.

· To assist those families who are deemed eligible for the free and reduced meals program.

Corkran Middle School Students to Benefit from Concert by Grammy-Nominated Jazz Musician

By KATHLEEN SHATT For The Maryland Gazette

Published 04/22/09

Three-time Grammy nominee and renowned jazz recording artist Norman Evans, DisWho? Productions, and The Journey Foundation will present their fourth annual Smooth Jazz Concert to benefit Corkran Middle School students on Friday, April 24, at Abundant Life Church in Glen Burnie. The host for the evening will be ABC Channel 2 News personality Cheryl Conner.

Evans, a county resident who performs on the saxophone and keyboard, has released several CDs, two of which, "Karma Blush and "Twilight," were nominated for the 2009 Grammy awards. Evans has also been working with local schools as a representative of the Grammy In The Schools program to get high school students interested in the music industry. Patrons attending this year's event are asked to take donations of nonperishable food for the school's food pantry.

The concert will raise funds to provide relief to low- to moderate-income families of children attending Corkran Middle School through a food pantry operated at the school. The Journey Foundation also partners with the Maryland Food Bank, which feeds families over the holiday season as well as in emergency situations.

"This is another great example of collaboration between our schools and the community that benefits our students greatly," schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin M. Maxwell said. "We are very grateful to Mr. Evans and The Journey Foundation for sharing their gift of music to help our children."

The Foundation is hoping to expand its efforts in the near future so that families at other north county schools can benefit from the community’s generosity.

The April 24 event begins with a reception and silent auction at 6:15 p.m. The two-hour concert begins at 7:00 p.m. Admission is $20 for adults, and $5 for those age 18 and under. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (410) 760-3554, (443) 618-7417, or (410) 768-8857.

Patrons are also asked to take canned goods to support the pantry project. Abundant Life Church is located at 7305 Furnace Branch Road in Glen Burnie.

Middle school looks after its own

Teachers at Corkran Middle School have found that it isn't hard to pick up which students are hungry. They squirm and act out as lunchtime nears. They fall asleep during class. They say they long to be at school when others count the days to holiday breaks.

Sometimes the students come right out and just ask for food, said Pamela Fowler, a teacher at the Glen Burnie school.

Her brother, Norman Evans, was troubled by her stories of teachers bringing in snacks for children whose parents didn't quite meet requirements for federally subsidized meals.

So Evans, a jazz musician and former social worker, started a nonprofit last fall to cover breakfasts and lunches for Corkran students who fall through the cracks and stock a school food bank for their families. In the foundation's first year, seven children received free daily meals from the school, and the pantry fed 33 families.

"You can't have kids performing adequately ... if their needs aren't being met," Evans said. "If you can't do this, then how can you expect to achieve anything else?"

A key part of the project is ensuring that families do not feel ashamed in asking for help, he said.

On Wednesday, students brought in food to Fowler's classroom to restock the food bank, and families came to pick up food after school so they could remain anonymous. Only Evans and Fowler passed out the food, so that not even other teachers are aware of which families actually sought help.

For the breakfast and lunch program, monetary donations are put directly onto needy children's lunch cards so they are unaware they are getting assistance. Only their parents know, Fowler said.

"I've found the parents, a lot of them are ashamed," Fowler said. "We try very hard to remove that and show them that this is something to take advantage of."

Evans and Fowler were two of seven children raised by a single mother in Danbury, Conn. His family sought help from food banks to survive. He worked as a social worker with youth services and drug-free programs in Connecticut until he got burnt out and decided to move to Maryland and become a full-time jazz musician. He plays saxophone and keyboards and found some radio play for his compact discs, but he still felt a need to get involved with the community.

Evans came to Abundant Life Church in Glen Burnie, which has been helping to beautify schools in the county by painting murals, doing landscaping and renovating teachers' lounges, and auditioned for one of the pastors. He played the church's baby grand piano, said Liz Wagner, executive director of the church's community outreach.

"It was awesome," she said. "He's got incredible talent."

This month, Evans will hold his second annual concert at Abundant Life Church to raise money for the foundation. Last year the concert raised $1,700. Evans also received $7,000 in donations from area businesses and received $500 from the Maryland Food Bank to set up the school pantry.

The Bank of Glen Burnie provided Evans with financial advice and donated $500 to the cause, said Yvonne Atkinson, the Community Reinvestment Act officer for the bank. She became a board member of the Journey Foundation.

"We just think this is filling a great need for the kids," Atkinson said.

While Wagner would like to see the foundation help other schools, saying the food project is just a natural extension of what the church already has been doing, Evans said he wants to make sure that the Corkran program is well established first.

The number of low-income students attending Corkran has increased over the past few years, said Debbie Montgomery, the school's principal. About 29 percent of the 720 students qualify for the reduced-cost meals at school.

She said she is not sure what is driving the increase, but it is critical for students to be able to study without fighting hunger pangs.

"We just know all of the research we get speaks to the importance of having breakfast and a substantial lunch to help fuel the brain fire," Montgomery said.

Entertainment
This is the most recent version of this article. View article history. Evans grows Seeds of Unity Jazz musician Norman Evans will perform a benefit concert on Friday. GLEN BURNIE, Md. (Map, News) - Jazz musician Norman Evans can’t decide what to do. “I like doing so many things with music, composition, arrangement, writing and everything else,” he said. “It’s a wonderful challenge for me to say, ‘Hey I need to write this song, but I have to perform soon too.’ You have to strike a balance.” The saxophonist/keyboardist describes himself as more of a ‘mosaic musician” than one particular genre. “It’s more to me to make music that’s accessible, to make folks feel great and relaxed,” he said. “It’s really about thinking outside the box and not being restricted, and really, that’s what the core of music should be.” “I wouldn’t say that I leaned towards just jazz, I leaned towards any content that was great, that was well written, and that spoke to my lyrically,” he said. But Evans, a formal social worker, had no trouble deciding how to help others. He founded The Journey Foundation, a local nonprofit dedicated to assisting children attending Corkran Middle School in Glen Burnie. The organization works to provide breakfast and lunch to children from low-income families. The proceeds from Evans’ concert tonight will go toward the foundation. “To really appreciate Norman, you have to see his live performance,” said Pamela Fowler, the Emotional Disabilities program teacher at Corkran. “What he presents live is every inch of his being, his soul and spirit, put out there on the stage. He becomes a huge part of the audience, and wants to make sure they have a fantastic evening. He will not disappoint by any means.”