On Saturday, April 20, the DREAM Team will host a music and art fundraiser from 3 – 7 p.m. at First City Art Center located at 1060 N. Guillemard St., Pensacola, to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP).
This family-friendly event will feature live acoustic music by Damien Louviere, The Davenports, and Good Foote. UWF’s Students for Suicide Awareness (SSA)’s “Seeds of Hope” Survivor Art Exhibit will be on display along with other artwork.
There will be a silent auction, door prizes, a kids’ art project table hosted by Escape Community Art Center, SSA info table, and a slide show presentation about the DREAM Team. There will be a special performance of “The DREAM Song” by Raela Villanueva and friends.
Guests will enjoy food by Chef Dan Dunn of H2O Hilton, the Dog House Deli, and Culinary Productions, along with non-alcoholic drinks, beer from Pensacola Bay Brewery, and Pirate Punch with Sailor Jerry Rum provided by Aloha Wine and Liquor.
This is an all ages event, visitors must be 21 and up with proper ID to consume alcohol. Suggested donation of $10 at the door to include food, non-alcoholic drinks, and a door prize ticket.
The DREAM Team consists of SSA members Justin McKay, Shelley Lloyd, and Sara Glavey, and community members Raela Villanueva, Stephen Moody, and Linda Price. The team will participate in AFSP’s annual “Out of the Darkness” 18-mile overnight walk that will take place June 1-2, 2013 in Washington, D.C. The team was formed in 2002 in memory of Raela’s younger brother “Jr.” who suffered from depression and took his life in 1997 at the age of 22.
For a small donation, luminary bags can be decorated in honor of loved ones lost to suicide or to support the team. The team will take the luminary bags to D.C. and place them on the 18th mile of the walk.
Proceeds from the event will benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the leading national non-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education, and advocacy, and to reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide. A small donation will also be made to First City Art Center.
Sponsors include First City Arts Center, Students for Suicide Awareness, Escape Community Art Center, the Association for Philippine Physicians of the Florida Panhandle, Dana Daniel Audio, Dunn Media, Chef Dan Dunn, Dog House Deli, Culinary Productions, Inc., Aloha Wine & Liquor, Pensacola Bay Brewery, and Escambia Westgate School.
For more info, visit www.theovernight.donordrive.com/team/DREAMteam2013, or contact Raela Villanueva, DREAM Team Captain at ms.raela@gmail.com or (850) 554-1827.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Dream Team art and music fundraiser for suicide prevention on Saturday, April 20