Warriors Rock concert will be a telethon this year
Submitted photo
Performers for Warriors Rock held a concert in Monongahela in September to be played on Nov. 8 as a telethon benefiting the CAHS Patriots.
Performers for Warriors Rock held a concert in Monongahela in September to be played on Nov. 8 as a telethon benefiting the CAHS Patriots.
Submitted photo
Country music star Darryl Worley will make a special video appearance along with special appearances by Gloria Gaynor and The Temptations Review for the annual Warriors Rock, which will be a telethon this year.
The annual Warriors Rock concert for a local military fundraising organization will return this year, but will be broadcast as a telethon on Sunday, Nov. 8.
Like many events scheduled in 2020, the planned live show was impacted by COVID-19.
“In March, everything started to go downhill,” said Linda Shearer, the founder of the CAHS Patriots, a volunteer organization in Connellsville that sends packages to deployed troops and hosts programs to honor living and deceased veterans.
Shearer said she talked it over with the Warriors of Rock founders Kim and Gary Racan, concerned if they held a traditional concert they might find themselves shut down due to restrictions.
Shearer said Kim Racan came up with the idea of making it more of a PBS-style telethon. Shearer contacted Armstrong Cable about the possibility of doing that, and not only was the cable provider willing to be involved, it also agreed to broadcast it on their different neighborhood channels like Connellsville, Butler, Zelienople, Meadville, Boardman, Ohio, and Rising Sun, Md.
Somerset Bank and Trust Co. agreed to set up and man a phone bank for the telethon.
The concert was filmed on Sept. 12 at the Aquatorium in Monongahela.
“The weather was beautiful,” Shearer said. “There were boats on the river and American flags flying. It was really quite impressive.”
Warriors Rock is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring that America’s military veterans and their families are appreciated and recognized for their service. The organization performs concerts throughout the nation to provide a musical tribute to veterans as a way of sharing their experiences, providing awareness of their needs and supporting the organizations that provide assistance to them.
The concerts feature videos of local veterans who are interviewed prior to the show, and share their service experiences. The veterans are then asked if there was a song that was special to them during that time, and the band performs it.
Along with the songs from the band, this year’s Warriors Rock will include video performances by special guests Gloria Gaynor, The Temptations Review and Darryl Worley.
Shearer said the shows are an overwhelming experience.
“You can hear music from the 30’s and 40’s to ‘Uptown Funk’,” she said, adding the personal touch of seeing the veterans interviewed makes it special. “You walk out of there, you are renewed – your sense of patriotism and pride – you have such good feelings.”
All proceeds from each show are donated to local veterans or veteran organizations like the CAHS Patriots.
Warriors Rock has played concerts in Connellsville for the past five years. This year will be the first virtual concert for the organization where people can text or call to make a donation.
“This is going to be exciting, and I’m praying people are generous with their donations,” Shearer said, noting the CAHS Patriots are gearing up to send out their Christmas care packages.
Shearer said they have three units set to receive packages, and she said she’s hoping to send 150 packages so each unit receives 50 boxes, which comes at a price.
There are about $40 worth of items in each box, and each costs $18.45 to ship. If the CAHS Patriots hit their goal of sending 150 boxes, the total cost will be around $9,000.
While it may seem like a lot, Shearer said she has been told from past recipients that each box is shared with 10 people and, currently, the CAHS Patriots have shipped over 12,000 boxes, meaning they touched 120,000 lives.
“The people we send to aren’t just local,” Shearer said, adding that some packages were even shared with members of the Royal Navy.
Shearer said she hopes to have the packages out by Dec. 1 to arrive overseas by Christmas.
Warriors Rock will be aired at 1 p.m. on Nov. 8 on Armstrong Channel 20 or 100. It will also be streamed live on Armstrong’s Facebook page and the Warriors Rock Facebook page.
To donate, text 243725 and use CAHSPATRIOTS and further instructions will be sent, or call 724-628-9745.