On April 26, the music community came together to give back on The Day That Music Cares. From musicians and artist managers to touring crews, venue staff, and music fans, over 2,500 people volunteered globally within their local communities on this year's annual day of service.
The collective impact spanned across 39 United States and 19 countries — greatly expanding the initiative's reach from its inaugural year in 2023.
Participants rallied behind a central purpose of The Day That Music Cares: Volunteering not only makes a difference in communities, but evidence suggests it also provides mental and social health benefits for those serving. The Day That Music Cares proves to have lasting benefits for all, aligning with MusiCares' mission to bolster and safeguard the music community's mental health. Special thank you to this year's The Day That Music Cares supporter, Starbucks, and thank you to iHeartIMPACT for their in-kind media support.
Below, hear from five organization leaders in Atlanta, Houston, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Fort Lauderdale about the impact of volunteer activities at their organizations on The Day That Music Cares.
What kind of work did the Day That Music Cares volunteers do for your organization?
Dr. Weston J. Robins, President & Founder of Eternal Strength (Alpharetta, Georgia): We were blessed with musical artists Young Dro and Lecrae showing up to volunteer their time to sit on a mental health awareness panel alongside myself. Both Young Dro and Lecrae spoke about their own personal journeys with mental health and addiction, and fielded questions from our 113+ attendees regarding anxiety, depression, substance abuse, self harm, and suicide, in addition to sharing ways they both stay healthy and care for their own mental health. We also spoke in depth about the power of music and art in helping with mental health.
We also had amazing volunteer performances from QuestionATL, The Queen Sheba and Divinity Roxx, who performed with a few of our Eternal Strength youth and then spent time with families answering questions and sharing about music and art as healing tools for self, family and community.
Cydney Pickens, Assistant Curator & Programming Manager at Project Row Houses (Houston, Texas): Project Row Houses is a community-engaged art organization in Third Ward, one of Houston's oldest and most historic Black neighborhoods. The PRH mission is to empower people and enrich communities through engagement, art, and direct action.
The Day That Music Cares volunteers came to our community-engaged art organization and completed some much-needed maintenance tasks that will help to keep our site clean and accessible for all. Over 30 years, PRH has accumulated hundreds of items including artwork, cultural and community ephemera, and tools for repairing our nearly 100-year-old row houses. The volunteers helped to clean, sort, and preserve our space while uncovering some old memories in the process.
Jennifer Clinger, Community Engagement Coordinator at Thistle Farms (Nashville, Tennessee): We have been remodeling our basement to better host and serve volunteers. Volunteers helped paint our bathroom and pipes that go across the ceiling. Volunteers helped prepare our healing garden and string hand-painted beads for an art installation. We had a wonderful, very productive day.
Angel Reyes, Volunteer Engagement Coordinator at LA Regional Food Bank (Los Angeles, California): Volunteers helped us to assemble 1,301 CSFP [Commodity Supplemental Food Program] and Emergency Food Assistance Kits. Each kit they assembled went out to our distributions across LA County to an older adult, family or individual in need.
Grace Kewl-Durfey, Program Director at Destination Sistrunk Cultural Center (Fort Lauderdale, Florida): The wonderful volunteers provided beautification services; mulched the building exterior on the main road; cleaned the windows; spread positivity.
Can you describe your experience with those who came to volunteer for The Day That Music Cares, from the overall energy of the group to the accomplishments of their shift(s)?
Dr. Weston J. Robins: The experience was literally indescribable, but I will do my best! Young Dro and Lecrae truly poured their heart out sharing about mental health awareness and giving their own personal testimonies. They were both humble, kind and filled with wisdom and inspiration for everyone in attendance.
They took ample time to spend with parents, families and youth from the community, helping share about ways they stay grounded and focused in their personal and professional lives. They would listen intently to questions and answer with discernment and humble integrity.
Question ATL, The Queen Sheba and Divinity Roxx played music with our youth and community and inspired the audience with thought-provoking hip-hop freestyles, written songs about mental health, and spoken word performances touching on the importance of self care and community connection. Each artist was humble, kind, receptive, and so giving in their time, energy and volunteering — helping to share the mission of Eternal Strength and bring increased awareness to mental health and community connection.
The volunteers also inspired those in attendance to volunteer themselves as mentors, making donations to our Non-profit 501(c)3 and helping the community see the inherent and core healing power of music and art. The audience was in awe, and I continue to get text and emails daily from those in attendance about how inspired they were and how healing the day was, alongside their continued support of Eternal Strength!
Cydney Pickens: The experience was wonderful! All of the volunteers arrived with enthusiasm — some even had stories of their involvement in our organization from our early years. The enthusiasm and respect for our site was high and many participants mentioned returning to volunteer in the future.
Jennifer Clinger: As a trafficking survivor who was fortunate enough to find a place at Thistle Farms, I have witnessed with my own eyes the power of community. I have been working with our volunteers since 2010 and I must say that The Day that Music Cares was a day I won't soon forget. Everyone was so lovely, lively and eager to chip in wherever needed.
Angel Reyes: Our volunteer organizers from MusiCares and The Recording Academy, Hannah Kulis and Luke Savage, did a great job in rallying their teams to register and attend this year's event. They requested an area for their volunteers to obtain T-shirts. The volunteers were excited to receive shirts and looked like an energetic and united team.
Grace Kewl-Durfey: Everyone was absolutely fantastic — high energy, warmth, ready to get the work done, and completed the projects within the allotted time period. They seemed to enjoy and appreciate the environment and its purpose of the facility.
How does the work that The Day That Music Cares volunteers — or any volunteers that come through any time of the year — impact the work your organization does?
Dr. Weston J. Robins: The impact from our Day That Music Cares volunteers is so amazing. They not only inspired and motivated our youth, staff and community at large, but they shared about their journey and struggles/adversity, providing support and guidance to all in attendance. It was so aligned, as we believe that art and music are the healing tools for youth.
Having these volunteers/artists come sit with our community to provide awareness and insight inspired our entire community and had a massively positive impact on the family and youth community we are focused on serving. It was absolutely amazing and beyond synchronistic to watch Lecrae and Young Dro share about how being healthy and mentally well is cool. They were able to speak to our youth and influence them to make healthy choices in their own lives.
Also, the artists that performed allowed an open jam to occur, which inspired our youth to join in and we all made music together. I even got to hop on stage and play Divinity Roxx's bass while one ES youth, Brandon, played guitar, and another ES youth, Zac, played drums, while QuestionATL freestyle-rapped about mental health and community...a profound moment I will hold very close to my heart for my entire life!
The volunteers helped bring our community out to learn, share and connect more with one another about mental health, and also share ways that we can continue to gather more volunteers and build more unique offerings for the families and youth we serve.
Cydney Pickens: As a community-engaged non-profit organization, we rely on volunteers to do essential work for our visitors and neighbors. Having such a large group of adult volunteers at a single time allowed us to plan the service day around a particularly demanding task that otherwise would not have been completed efficiently and would not have been appropriate for smaller or younger volunteer groups.
Jennifer Clinger: Thistle Farms tracks volunteer hours and adds a $31.80 value to each volunteer hour. In turn, we use those numbers to help secure grants, making the very act of volunteering one of the many ways to help support our fight against trafficking.
Angel Reyes: Volunteers are crucial to the work of our organization. Each shift, volunteers work together to assemble food packages for people in need. We can expect volunteers to produce hundreds to thousands of boxes each shift. Our agency partners and food recipients have our volunteers to thank, as they make our mission possible of mobilizing resources to fight hunger in Los Angeles County.
Grace Kewl-Durfey: The Day That Music Cares volunteers and others who come through help to fill gaps and free resources that can be redirected in the programs and services provided.
Anything else you'd like to share about your experience working with volunteer groups on The Day That Music Cares?
Dr. Weston J. Robins: The Day That Music Cares was a profound and divine blessing. We are so humbled and thankful for MusiCares and the work they are doing.
Being highlighted on The Day that Music Cares means more than we could ever convey. The artists volunteered not just their time and energy, but their heart and soul, helping spread awareness, provide psycho-education and build relationships with our amazing audience of families, youth, parents, and professionals.
None of this would have been possible without [Atlanta Chapter Senior Executive Director] Michele Caplinger for seeing our work, believing in our mission and cause, and working to orchestrate this phenomenal community event. We are forever indebted to MusiCares and the incredible humans: Michele Caplinger, Mara Davis, Erin Baxter, Tia Bennett. Thank you to everyone from The Recording Academy Atlanta Chapter and the biggest thank you to the amazing artists/volunteers that gave their heart and soul on The Day That Music Cares at Eternal Strength. We can never thank you enough!
Cydney Pickens: Project Row Houses and MusiCares are natural partners, each working to support community members through creative collective action. We are thankful for each person's contribution and look forward to seeing those smiling faces again soon.
Jennifer Clinger: Thistle Farms would happily host Music Cares volunteers again and again.
Angel Reyes: We had a great volunteer turnout this and last year, and we're excited to continue hosting their organization annually. We'd love to partner with the team again for various company retreats or team building days. Thank you for partnering with us, it was a pleasure to work with your volunteers.
Grace Kewl-Durfey: The appreciation shown by the volunteers of the purpose and work of Destination Sistrunk Cultural was so invigorating and inspiring; a wonderful light reminding us of the importance of what we do for the community, as well as visual, music and performing artists.