Michael W. Smith, Glacia Robinson Among Featured Performers at FFTP Concert: Charity Aims to Raise Funds to Provide 10 Million Meals
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (August 11, 2021) Top Christian recording artists will be featured during Food For The Poor’s National Celebration – We Are One, a free livestreaming concert on Thursday to raise funds to provide 10 million meals for families in desperate need.
Guests include Michael W. Smith, Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Jason Gray, with a special performance by international recording artist Glacia Robinson, who is co-hosting the event at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday from the charity’s Coconut Creek headquarters.
To register for the event, and receive notifications and a link to participate in the online auction, go to www.FoodForThePoor.org/one.
Smith’s connection to Haiti, where FFTP has served for 35 years, runs deep and is personal. His song, Come Together, was inspired by the 2010 Haiti earthquake after he had traveled there.
“To be involved and to try and help Haiti seems impossible, but it is possible and thank God Food For The Poor is feeding thousands of people,” Smith said in an interview with FFTP.
“My love and passion for Haiti has never dissipated and nor will it ever. They are a resilient people.”
When Smith met his wife, who had spent six months in Haiti, one of the first things they talked about on their first date was Haiti. The pair have been married 40 years.
“I knew right then I wanted to marry her, but when I began to talk with her and found out how much she loved the poor and had fallen in love with Haiti, I thought this girl is extraordinary,” Smith said.
Smith has been honored with three Grammy Awards, 45 Dove Awards, an American Music Award and has sold more than 15 million albums. Smith’s movie documentary about the history of Christian music, The Jesus Music will be in theaters in October.
Glacia Robinson, a household name in Jamaica, is an award-winning singer, songwriter, composer, producer, author and inductee in the Caribbean Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
Robinson said everyone has gifts that are meant to be shared.
“It’s important to give and start from where you are,” she said. “Never minimize the potential of the donation or the seed that you can give because it has an infectious power or potential to change somebody else’s life forever.”
Robinson, who lives in New York with husband and producer Emerson Ally, has strong ties to her homeland Jamaica and to FFTP, which was founded in the United States 39 years ago to help impoverished children and families in Jamaica.
Last year, Robinson wrote the lyrics to We Are One, moved by the overwhelming news of the spread of COVID-19 and hoping to provide hope and comfort. Her husband wrote the music. Together, they decided to share the song with FFTP as a rallying cry to inspire others.
“Being able to stand on this platform as co-host for this event is a wonderful privilege,” Robinson said. “I get to share what’s important to me, which is always about serving, to see the good in others, regardless of their background, regardless of what they have in life, to be able to say hey, there is greatness in you and we are here to support what’s inside of you.”
Tasha Cobbs Leonard has won a Grammy Award, three Stellar Awards and three Dove Awards. Her latest album Royalty: Live At The Ryman, which was written before the COVID-19 pandemic, was the first Christian gospel worship album to be recorded at the historic Nashville music hall – The Ryman. The album debuted number one on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart.
“It has been my esteemed pleasure to partner with Food For The Poor on this special endeavor,” Cobbs Leonard said. “Not only do I admire the aims and ideals of Food For The Poor, but I am also inspired by the difference they are making in the world with their commitment to be our brother’s keeper.”
FFTP President/CEO Ed Raine said people in the countries served by the charity continue to face huge challenges and dire hunger in a year where the COVID-19 pandemic combined with back-to-back hurricanes has pushed poverty-stricken families to the edge.
“This concert is about bringing hope to these families, who need our help more than ever,” Raine said. “People are desperate and with the extraordinary generosity of our donors, we can make a transformational difference.”
The event’s online auction, which includes artwork, jewelry, vacations and other unique gifts, is open and will close at 9 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.
Banded is the presenting sponsor. Salem Media Group and GGFM 90.1 FM are radio sponsors. Boca Raton Community Church is the community sponsor. Other sponsors include Feed My Starving Children, The Calmark Group, Hormel Foods, McFFE Group and Seaboard Marine.
Food For The Poor, one of the largest international relief and development organizations in the nation, does much more than feed millions of hungry children and families living in poverty primarily in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicine, educational materials, homes, support for vulnerable children, care for the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.
Michael Turnbell
Public Relations
954-427-2222 x 6054
[email protected]