Earlier this month, Lone Star College-Montgomery choirs, orchestra, and soloists performed a benefit concert with Caney Creek High School choirs, with $1,700 in proceeds going to New Danville, a master-planned community designed for special-needs adults and those with related condition such as autism or traumatic head injury resulting from strokes or accidents.
According to Kathy Sanders, president of New Danville, “The community is a young, growing organization that has many needs. One of our major focuses is the Enviro-Friendly™ gardening and landscaping program. We have 42 acres of land that needs to be developed, but have limited tools and equipment. The funds raised will be added to the fund to purchase a tractor. New Danville is honored to have been chosen as the beneficiary for this year’s concert. Not only do the concert proceeds help New Danville financially, but the publicity generated brought much-needed awareness about New Danville and the people it serves.”
New Danville is a community where special-needs adults can live independently. The designed Town Center Concept allows adults in the community to live, learn, work and grow emotionally, socially and spiritually in a safe, protective environment with their peers. Residents can enjoy becoming as independent as their physical, mental and/or behavioral disabilities will allow. Within the Town Center community, New Danville has recently opened the Life Learning Center that provides social skills, health and safety, gardening and miniature horse therapy. Additional programs will be added as the Town Center concept develops.
The occasion marks the second year that Lone Star College-Montgomery’s annual holiday concert has benefited a local non-profit organization. Gregory Ristow, conductor and professor of music for Lone Star College-Montgomery stated, “The concert was everything I’d hoped it would be. It was a great success musically, and we had enormous fun collaborating with the choirs from Caney Creek High School. I’m so pleased that we were able to raise money for--and bring attention to--New Danville. This visionary community is something that everyone should hear about.”
The concert also provided opportunities for college-bound students and the college’s music students, according to Ristow.
“After the concert, students from Caney Creek High School kept coming up to me and saying, ‘I’m coming to the college in a few years; I can’t wait to sing in the choirs,’” said Ristow. “That’s certainly a nice perk. More than ten percent of Caney Creek High School seniors start at Lone Star College-Montgomery; that number goes up to more than fifteen percent when you look at Conroe ISD as a whole. We definitely want these students to know they can keep making music at the college.”
For more information about the college’s music department or performance schedule, visit http://montgomery-college.com/musicperformances.
Lone Star College-Montgomery is located at 3200 College Park Drive, one-half mile west of Interstate 45, between Conroe and The Woodlands. For more information about the college, call (936) 273-7000 or visit montgomery.lonestar.edu.
Lone Star College System consists of five colleges, including Cy-Fair, Kingwood, Montgomery, North Harris, and Tomball, six centers and Lone Star College-University Center. With 49,250 students, it is the largest college system in the Houston area, and third largest community college district in Texas. To learn more, visit www.lonestar.edu.